


every wave drags you to sea

by alnima



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, All of which are very very brief and not mentioned in any great detail, Alternate Universe, Baby Raptors, Dinosaurs, Explicit Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of military/war/war injuries, Minor Injuries that result in blood, Minor Zayn Malik/Harry Styles, OT5 Friendship, Post-Jurassic World, Swearing, The tamest version of Enemies to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 13:33:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 76,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6286660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alnima/pseuds/alnima
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know, you could loosen up. The work day is over.”</p><p>“Yes, mine is over, but yours is not.”</p><p>“No, you’re right. But I have twenty minutes before I have to get back to the raptors, so I’m on a break, you might say.”</p><p>“And you chose to spend it with me.”</p><p>“Yeah, I did. I saw you in the lab but didn’t get the chance to talk to you.”</p><p>“There’s a reason for that,” Louis says as he flips through his papers. He’s not really reading anymore but he’s still going to act like he is. He’s not really doing a good job with the whole, ignore him and he’ll go away thing, but maybe he can do that now. He can just focus on the—</p><p>“Are you still upset that we didn’t work out?” Liam asks and that—Well, how can Louis ignore that?</p><p> <br/>Or, a Jurassic World AU featuring Louis, the Director of Operations; Liam, the raptor trainer and dinosaur specialist; Niall, the tech and security genius; Harry, the baby dinosaur mother, and Zayn, the park's new guy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	every wave drags you to sea

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost, this is set several years after the end of the Jurassic World movie. It doesn't follow the same vein as the Jurassic Park series, where things are happy and then a dinosaur (or several) flips out and causes a bunch of catastrophic damage. However, if you've seen the Jurassic World movie, you'll probably pick up on a couple similarities since...well, that did inspire the idea.
> 
>  **Please heed the warning about the fact that there are minor accidents that result in some blood, nothing too detailed, and also to the fact that Liam is ex-military, so there is the briefest mention of military/past war experiences/war injuries. Again, not very detailed, but it's there.**  
> 
> Thank you to my wonderful artist [Marisa](http://internetboxofficial.tumblr.com/), who made the most beautiful [graphic](http://alnimawrites.tumblr.com/post/141277111141/every-wave-drags-you-to-sea-alnima-77k), along with a truly amazing [mix](http://8tracks.com/lolmarisa/you-could-be-my-luck) that captures Louis' voice in this fic so perfectly, I'm still amazed. 
> 
> Also, a giant thank you to [Jen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pornyziallfeels), as always, for listening to whine about this fic for months, and for being super encouraging when I first mentioned the idea. You're a gem and this fic would be a folder somewhere on my computer, ignored, and not written without you. 
> 
> And to Dee, for helping me decide on a title and being great when I talked to her about this. As well as everyone else who listened to me whine about this fic, you're all the best. 
> 
> Finally, I hope you all enjoy this!

“Are we going to have to close the arena?”

Niall shrugs and then squats down to inspect the damage again, poking at it with his finger and mumbling something under his breath that Louis can’t quite make out, nor does he really care. He just needs to know if they’re going to be forced to close down one of their attractions, and if so, for how long, so he can get started on refunds and figuring out who is going to be in charge of listening to angry visitors, because Louis sure as hell isn’t.

“I think I can probably get this taken care of without having to shut anything down,” Niall tells him. “I might have to work while the animals are out, but it’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Louis asks, because he really needs this to be a for sure kind of thing. Niall might be the best this park has, their own little tech genius, but that doesn’t change the fact he needs him to be positive before they let visitors back in.

And honestly, even Louis can admit that without him, the park would fall apart. Well, not entirely. There are plenty of other people to design the safest and most structurally sound enclosures, but so far, Niall is the one who has succeeded in keeping the park safe, keeping employees and tourists safe. “If you’re not sure then you need to tell me now, because the next show is set to start in two hours.”

Niall rolls his eyes, rubbing a bit of dirt on his shorts as he stands back up. “It’s an easy fix, really. Ethel just likes to mess with us.”

“Ethel?”

“Yeah, the one with the green around her eyes,” says Niall, swinging his hands in front of his face to show Louis what he’s talking about.

And Louis knows what he’s talking about or who, rather. Everyone knows about Niall’s obsession with naming the animals, knows how he likes to con people into changing the names of the ones that they were allowed to name and he wasn’t. Louis’ not sure why, but he really doesn’t like the whole naming thing.

“I know what you’re talking about, but please stop talking about the dinosaurs as if they’re humans.”

“Please stop acting like they’re not animals with personalities and thoughts and feelings. Because that’s what they are, whether you like it or not.”

Louis rolls his eyes because he also knows about Niall’s passion for dinosaur rights and letting everyone know that they’re wrong when they assume the worst of the creatures. It’s probably the reason why Niall’s so good at his job, because he cares about them, and his excellent work is more than likely to help keep the dinosaurs safe from the people. Louis doesn’t really care, because he can see why people would jump to assume the worst of them, especially given everything that’s happened here.

Jurassic World hasn’t always been safe, even when it was Jurassic Park, something has always gone wrong. There have always been faults in the operation, faults in the dinosaurs, and faults in the people working there, the people meant to keep everyone safe. But each time the park reopens, it’s better than before, and this time Louis is sure that it’ll last. Not just because they have Niall’s brilliance, but also because they have him. He’s spent years studying the operations and downfall of the other parks, how those before them did things, finding where they failed, finding where they almost had it, where they could have made it but didn’t.

But it’s been five, almost six years since the last incident, when they tried to close down Jurassic World for good. Until Louis’ boss - Simon Cowell - bought the place and transformed it, making it better than ever. Thanks to Louis, of course. Or so he likes to think, anyway.

“You know that you’re going to need to come up with a way to stop this from happening. It’s the third time this month that the walls have been damaged.”

“And it’s because they’re messing with us,” Niall says. “But I’ve been working up some new plans for this wall. I think instead of tearing it down and starting over, I’m going to expand it, toss in some beams for extra support, build a grid system inside the wall, and then just add that to the preexisting wall. That way, nothing is disassembled, we can build it without closing the arena, and it’ll allow the walls to take more of a beating, so we won’t have to constantly be in here patching it up.”

“Right, well, whatever you think is best” Louis mumbles, glancing down at his phone. He curses when he catches the time, because he was supposed to be at his office five minutes ago to meet with…some new employee. Louis has already forgotten his name, shit. “Do you think that you can take care of this without me?”

“I always do, Louis.”

“I’ll come and check on you later with the new employee, let you introduce yourself while I make sure you’re not goofing off.”

“Oh yeah, you’re training Zayn today.”

“Zayn, thank you, couldn’t remember his name,” Louis sighs, filtering through his mind to bring up a face to the name. Zayn Malik, their new designer; hired for his inventive and innovative ideas on how to keep the park current and interesting to the general public. It’s a job that Simon made up when he threw a stack of applications at Louis and told him to hire someone. “Have you already met him?”

“I saw him yesterday when he was filling out all those forms with Brenda for the afternoon.”

“Well then good, maybe now you’ll feel less inclined to socialize and more inclined to do your job,” Louis says, pointing at the wall and glaring at Niall in what he hopes is a stern way. It’s not, because Niall laughs at him, clapping a hand on Louis’ shoulder.

“When are you going to stop pretending that I’m not your favorite employee?”

“When you actually become my favorite,” Louis says, biting back a smile when Niall laughs once more. “Now get to work, you’re not paid to stand around.”

“Anything you say, boss,” Niall shouts after him.

Louis is really, really late.

><

Zayn’s waiting outside Louis’ office, his head hung low as he kicks at the ground, waiting patiently for Louis, who is nearly fifteen minutes late. Louis vaguely remembers him from the interview, because his hair is different, no longer short and blond. Now it’s a bit shaggier, jet black and combed back nicely. And he’s dressed nicely, almost too nicely for a day of walking around in the sun. Louis knows that he’s going to be regretting the black pants within the hour.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Louis says, making Zayn jump as he nears him. He holds out his hand and Zayn’s fingers are clammy as they wrap around his own. “Zayn, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Right, just checking,” Louis says, smiling. He rubs his hands against his thighs and tries to think of where to start. This isn’t the first time he’s had the rather dull task of taking care of new employees, but he’s not as prepared as he’d like to be. He really needs to hire an assistant, train them to do all the boring stuff, and then fire them when they inevitably fuck it all up and he’s left to fix it. He sighs, shaking his head at the thought. “So first, I think a congratulations are in order, and a welcome to Jurassic World.”

“Yeah, thank you. Really. I really appreciate it,” Zayn says and he’s nodding so much that Louis’ scared his neck is going to snap or crack, right here outside his office. God, that’s the last thing he needs on a Wednesday. “I’m really excited to get started.”

“That’s great to hear,” Louis says. “How about we walk and talk.”

“Whatever you want, yeah.”

“Great,” Louis mumbles, trying to silence the thoughts in his head so that he can try and remember what he had planned for Zayn today. “So here at Jurassic World, you’re going to go through a training period where you’ll shadow me for a while, follow me around, and get to know the park a little bit more than what you’ve read online, whatever stories you might have heard, things like that. Mr. Cowell believes it is important as a Jurassic World employee to know the park on a personal level. So just because you’re working indoors doesn’t mean that you can ignore what’s going on around you, especially not in your job.”

“Right, yeah. That’s a great philosophy,” Zayn agrees, nodding as Louis points at a door ahead of them, signaling that they’re going to go through that. “And to be honest with you, I don’t really know much about the park. I mean, we’ve all heard stories, but I’m here, so obviously I didn’t think too much of them, did I?”

“That’s good,” Louis smiles, rubbing his hands together as he stops in front of the door at the end of the hall. “So before we get started, as we go through everything, not just today, but any day, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them. I hate training people, and I’d rather not do this a second time, so it’s better to ask the questions now, okay?”

“Absolutely,” Zayn agrees, and he’s smiling, but Louis can see how nervous he is, how anxious he is to get started on their tour.

“Right, so this is the Innovation Center,” Louis says, pushing open the door and letting Zayn walk through first. “Your job will focus mostly here, with you helping to design the exhibitions and keep everything current and up to date.”

“How many exhibitions are there?”

“One hundred,” Louis tells him, grinning. “Which is why we don’t want things to remain the same, Mr. Cowell wants them constantly changing and shifting, because if things change, then—“

“People will feel more inclined to come back.”

“Exactly. And that’s where you step in.”

Zayn nods and Louis watches him as they walk through the room, watching as Zayn takes everything in, sizing it up. Louis can almost see as the ideas pass through Zayn’s mind, ideas on how to change the place up. They navigate through the crowds, watching as children brush mock dinosaur fossils, watching as they hit buttons to show holograms of dinosaurs, walking through them and taking everything in.

“This is a lot,” Zayn breathes out, running his fingers along the informational plaque in front of him, one that tells them how – or rather theories of how, since they’re all fairly positive on their theories but there really is no way of knowing - the Lariosaurus lived. “It’s to be expected though, just a lot to change.”

“Well that’s the thing, we would need slow, subtle changes. Drastic changes won’t work, except for some of the larger ones.”

“Makes sense. Although, even with some of the smaller changes, you can advertise them to make them seem like more than what they are, draw in more public curiosity, which in turn means more sales,” Zayn mumbles, scratching at the growing beard on his face. “But it’s the bigger ones that’ll bring in some of the former guests. Except not just in here, we’ll have to think of ways to expand these changes beyond this building.”

Louis grins because that’s exactly why they hired Zayn, for his ability to see the future of Jurassic World, for everything that it could be.

They move through the rest of the center quickly, talking about some of the park favorites, exhibitions that the public loves, and then diving into the ones that they don’t love as much. Zayn bounces ideas off Louis, things that he’s been thinking about since he found out that he got the job, things he mentioned in his application.

The more they talk, the more Louis realizes that Zayn really has done his research on the park. Namely on customer satisfaction, experiences they enjoyed and those that they didn’t, all of which he’s used to help drive his ideas.

Louis shows him to the diner in the center, telling him to definitely give the blue cheese burger a try if he’s ever hungry, before they head upstairs.

“Oh wow,” Zayn mumbles, eyes going wide as they approach the glass windows that reveal the Hammond Creation Lab. “Are we going in there?”

“We can,” Louis says, scanning his ID to gain entry. He tugs the door open and lets Zayn go in first, smiling at a group of kids staring at them. “So Zayn, I’m sure you know where we are, so I’ll skip the introductions on that.”

“Yeah, this part of the park isn’t really hard to forget. It’s a bit infamous, isn’t it?”

“That it is, but not always for the right reasons, I’m afraid,” Louis says, almost wistfully. “But we’re hoping to change that.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Zayn asks, looking over the shoulder of one of their geneticists. Louis thinks her name is Inara.

“Genetic hybrids, as they were made before, are a thing of the past since we’ve learned the hard way with other methods.”

“The past?”

“There are bans in place, regulations if you will, since scientists are going to do as scientists do,” Louis says, shrugging when Zayn looks at him with a raised brow. “We would like to avoid creating anything that is going to singlehandedly destroy the park. But this is a center for exploration, so yes. Regulations.”

They spend a bit of time in the lab, Louis tucked away in the corner, answering emails while he lets Zayn meet some of his co-workers, find out about the lab and the dinosaurs. Louis has three emails from Simon alone, all of them asking how it’s going with Zayn, if Louis thinks he’s going to be as great of an employee as they first suspected he would be. Simon, like Louis, knows how badly people want these kinds of jobs; at least until they meet the dinosaurs and then some of them are taking the next boat off the island.

Which is why Louis takes Zayn out of the Innovation Center and out onto Main Street. They discuss the kiosks and other buildings in the area, but Louis wants to go and check on Niall like he promised, and to see how well Zayn reacts to the dinosaurs. If Louis is going to go through with training him, he wants to make sure that he’s not wasting his time.

Main Street is busy, like streets of any downtown after a major sporting event. But it’s not a special occasion here, this is how it is all the time, and so far, Zayn seems unfazed by it, asking questions about the different areas that they can see from where they walk, wanting to know more information about them.

There’s an angry roar, sharp and booming, from behind them and Louis’ smirks, watching as Zayn clutches his heart. “What was that noise?”

“Feeding time,” Louis tells him, grinning broadly. “Come on, I want to take you some place.”

“No, wait,” mumbles Zayn, coming to a halt as he holds onto Louis’ arm. “What’s that area?”

Louis follows his gaze as best he can, and assuming that Zayn’s not talking about the kiosk where people can buy lemonade and other refreshments, he must mean, “Oh that’s the petting zoo.”

“The petting zoo?”

“Yeah, it’s a park favorite. One of the only areas where parents don’t complain about the dinosaurs making their kid cry just from looking at them.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why you’d have a petting zoo with dinosaurs. I mean, you do realize how dangerous that can be?”

Louis grins and starts walking, heading towards the area. “The Gentle Giants Petting Zoo is an area specifically designed for the baby dinosaurs. They spend the early stages of their lives here before they move off to live in their appropriate enclosures, from there they’ll be taken care of by their adoptive parents.”

“They’re babies,” Zayn mutters, pressing up against a bit of the fence, looking around in awe. “Do all of them come here?”

“No, not all. It’s herbivores only. More specifically we have the Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Gallimimus.”

“I thought Gallimimus was an omnivore?” Zayn asks, looking thoughtfully at the animals before he turns to Louis. “Or am I wrong?”

“No, you’re right about that,” says a slow, lazy voice. The voice belonging to none other than Harry Styles: the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo expert, or as he’s more affectionately known as, the mother to all of the dinosaurs. Louis isn't sure who made up that shitty nickname for him, probably Niall. Louis blames all names on him. “Gallimimus are omnivores, however they don’t have teeth, so they’re not much of a threat to the children they interact with daily.”

“Yeah,” Zayn mumbles, staring wide-eyed at Harry, his mouth hanging open stupidly. Louis doesn’t blame him. Apart from being known as the mother to the dinosaurs, Harry is also known for breaking employee dress code, which tends to be a bit of a distraction.

For the most part, Louis is tired of asking him to button up his shirts – honestly, he works near children, they don’t need to see his nipples – and suggesting that he wear shorts that cover a bit more thigh – not like the children notice that, but most of the parents do, and other employees. Unless Louis is in a mood, then he’ll harass him about it until Harry sighs and pats his hair, letting him know that he’ll try to remember that when he wakes up the next day.

“Harry, this is Zayn. He’s the one Simon just hired to start redoing the exhibitions and to do all that promotional work.”

“Oh right,” Harry says, grinning. “Um, wait. Hold on.” He looks around for a second, spinning in circles before he stops a little girl running by him. He hands her the bits of food in his hand and then extends it out towards Zayn, who looks like Harry is offering him a mountain-sized pile of gold. “Niall told me about you during lunch, he said your application was really impressive.”

“How did Niall get his application?”

“Um, he didn't,” mutters Harry, wincing. “Um. I think he just like, you know, made it up or whatever. He was guessing. Yeah, he was guessing based on the paperwork he saw you fill out.”

“Right, tell Horan that he better stay out confidential files. I’m tired of him breaking into my office.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry says, holding up his hands defensively. “Anyway, Zayn, have you had the opportunity yet to meet any of the animals?”

“No, not yet.”

“We just came from the Innovation Center, but you should take him in there, give him the rundown of everything.”

“Of course, yeah. Come on in,” Harry invites, moving along the fence a bit so that he can open the employee gate. He waves Zayn over, and Louis watches as he swallows, nodding his head and moving inside of the little pen.

As they walk away Louis loses track of what they’re saying, but he studies Zayn carefully. There’s a bit of apprehension on his face as Harry guides him over to a baby Triceratops, one that Louis believes Niall calls Joy. Although any of them could be called Joy, Louis’ not really sure how Niall can keep track of them all. Louis can better recognize them on paper, metaphorically speaking. He needs their files, all of which are equipped with their little numbers that relate to their trackers, letting Louis – and anyone else at the park- know where the animal is at any given moment.

Louis’ worries about Zayn quickly dissipate as he kneels down on the ground in front of the Triceratops and strokes his fingers gently down the side of her face, grinning at her and saying something that he can’t make out. And Louis thinks good, because the others who have run crying for their mothers, couldn’t even handle this part. Zayn’s already infinitely better.

The trill of his phone draws his attention away from the exchange. He glances down and sees that it’s Josh from the Creation Lab.

“Yeah?” Louis says, avoiding a group of screaming kids as he moves away from the petting zoo.

“We’re going to need you up here, and soon.”

“I’m in the middle of something, can it wait until this evening?”

“No,” Josh says and Louis sighs, rubbing tiredly at his temples. People can’t do anything without him. Louis’ surprised he doesn’t have to make rounds at night to make sure they’ve all brushed their teeth before he has to tuck them in at night. “The newest raptors have hatched.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Liam’s already here, so you’ve got a bit of time, but we’re going to need you.”

Louis ignores the spike of emotion he feels at the mention of Liam’s name, because he doesn’t want to be near the other boy anymore than he wants to be near Louis, but still. It’s necessary at this point, isn’t it?

There’s a quick, internal battle inside of Louis about what he’s going to do about Zayn, but then he figures, why not? This is training and he’s supposed to learn the park inside and out. With a quick sigh, Louis says, “I’ll be there in ten,” and then he hangs up, already marching back towards the petting zoo.

><

Louis lets out a tired groan when he sees the amount of people inside the Creation Lab. He’s not surprised that they’re all there, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be annoyed by it. Sure, it’s their first egg hatching in a while, and everyone loves seeing the dinosaurs being born, but still. They all have jobs that they should be doing, and Louis doesn’t sign the approval on their time cards for them to be standing around and watching something like this.

“What’s going on?” Zayn asks, as Louis swipes his ID card through the slot and yanks open the door when the light flashes green. He looks a bit amazed at the lab as they step inside, gently pushing their way through the small crowd.

“Raptor birth,” Louis announces, gently pushing a man out of his way so that he can approach the glass.

“Really?” Zayn asks and Louis smirks at the astonishment in his tone.

“Yeah, step up there and see.”

Louis steps back a bit and allows Zayn to move ahead of him, letting him push through the crowd first so that he can press his face up against the glass like everyone else. Louis stops next to him, looking over his shoulder.

The raptors are being born inside a tiny glass room that they’ve made to look like the outdoors. The bottom half of the glass panels have outdoorsy decals on them, the ground covered in dirt and grass that they’ve managed to grow, and little plants. The design is one of Niall’s, his idea that bringing the outdoors in would be better than the eggs hatching in an area that looked like the rest of the lab, artificial and metal, sleek and sterile. Simon had thought it was ingenious, right after the seal of approval from Liam, who clapped his big, stupid hand on Niall’s shoulder in admiration of his cleverness.

Louis can admit it was a brilliant idea, but he’d rather fall asleep sunbathing and wake up with a nasty burn than entertain Liam Payne, the boy currently knelt on the ground in front of the raptor eggs, gently trying to coax them out into the world. His shirtsleeves are rolled up, his skin smeared in dirt and sweat from working outdoors all day, and his shorts reveal tanned, toned calves as he murmurs words that Louis can’t make out through the glass.

“Who is he?”

“Liam. Liam Payne. He’s a dinosaur researcher, used to be in the military, then he worked at a zoo before Simon hired him,” Louis explains, watching as one of the raptors emerges from out of the shell. “Raptors are Liam’s specialty. He knows what he’s doing with them, and if we’re being honest here, he’s the best person that the park has for understanding dinosaur behavior.”

“Huh,” Zayn mumbles, nodding.

“Yeah, he’s been working on continuing Owen Grady’s work of training the raptors.”

“I heard about that, but I don’t really understand it. How can they be trained?”

Louis shrugs. He really doesn’t know what Liam does with the raptors. He’s seen it happen, yeah, but he couldn’t explain it. To him it seems a bit pointless, but Simon thinks the park needs it, thinks that if they can tap into the raptors that they’ll be able to train all the dinosaurs. Something along those lines, maybe, he’s not sure. “You’ll have to ask Liam about that, won’t you,” Louis says, watching as Liam strokes his fingers along the small raptor’s back.

“Yeah maybe,” Zayn mumbles, eyes squinted as he continues to watch Liam work. Louis stares at him and waits, watching Zayn’s calculating gaze as he takes in everything happening before him. “Is he imprinting on them? That’s how he trains them, because they think he’s their mom, or whatever. They trust him.”

“Exactly. He’s going to spend as much time as possible with them, and since their growth rate is accelerated, he’ll be introducing them to the preexisting pack sooner rather than later, to help establish roles in their community,” Louis explains, nodding as he watches another egg crack, a tiny portion of the shell breaking off. “But you’ll have to ask Liam more about that. He can tell you more than I can. He’s the expert.”

And Louis hates saying that, hates singing Liam’s praises, but it’s true. Liam is one of the park’s best employees. He’s smart and strong, and capable of understanding things that no one else can, not even some of the veterinarians they have staffed. Liam works with Niall on several of the enclosures, figuring out ways to keep the dinosaurs happy while also keeping them contained and safe.

Inside the glass room, Louis watches as another raptor is born, breaking free of the egg and rolling towards Liam. Liam laughs as the raptor struggles to stand, standing on wobbly feet, its mouth moving as Liam talks to it. If there weren’t so many people around, Louis would turn on the speakers, would allow Zayn the honor of hearing all the nonsense that Liam spews to the dinosaurs.

Louis has listened before, knows more about Liam’s family than he cares to admit. He knows about one of his sister’s engagement and the other one’s baby boy. Or maybe it’s the same sister, Louis isn’t sure, nor does he want to – or care enough – to ask.

“Why do they look different? I thought raptors were like, feathery or something. I remember thinking they looked weird as kids, not as cool as some of the other dinosaurs.”

Louis nods because this is something that he can explain, the way the dinosaurs look, how they’re made in the lab. He can do that part of it. “This is where the scientist experimentation comes into play,” Louis says, rubbing his hands together. “The DNA is obviously very old, so there’s bits of it that we don’t have, parts that are missing. The scientists here fill in those gaps and through that, they’ve altered the appearance of several of the dinosaurs. Or at least what we think they should look like. They’ve made them bigger, not as feathery.”

“Is that allowed?”

“I told you,” Louis says, a slow grin spreading on his face, “Scientists will do as scientists do.”

As everyone waits for the final raptor to be born, the room begins to slowly empty of people, the novelty of their births wearing off the longer it takes for them to be born. That is, for everyone except Zayn, who stares wide-eyed into the room as Liam begins to feed the baby raptors. Louis smiles at the sight, enjoying the fact that Zayn is interested in the park so much. It’s been ages since they’ve had a new employee like this, he only hopes it continues to work out.

><

With the monthly reports balanced in one hand, Louis picks his burger up in the other to take a bite. Bits of cheese dribble down his chin as he turns the page, chasing the food with his tongue. The diner is filled with people as the dinner crowd settles in today, and normally Louis would avoid this place until after the crowd disappears, but after telling Zayn about the blue cheese burger, he found his brain unable to stop thinking about it, so he just had to have one, his mouth salivating as he takes another bite.

The reports in front of him are dull, but they let him know that he’s had another successful run as Director of Operations and really, that’s all that matters. Attendance is at a record high, and thanks to the introduction of the Treetop Grazers attraction several months ago, Louis thinks that’ll continue to go up as more and more people talk about it with their friends and family. But it’s still nice to see the numbers on paper, to know that the projects Louis approves of have an impact on the park that means so much to him.

But there are other areas that catch Louis’ eye, tiny decreases and increases, places that could use improvement. He sets his burger down and grabs some colored tabs, marking the areas that he needs to come back to later, areas that he needs to discuss with Simon and other people in the park, people who work more closely and can offer him some advice on how they can do better. But it’s not bad, so Louis thinks that’s one thing going his way, one thing that he can pat himself on the back for this month.

Something slams down on the table next to him and Louis jumps, the paper shaking in his hand as he turns to see Liam sitting next to him. He sighs and drops his gaze down to the monthly reports; maybe if he ignores him, he’ll go away.

“Hi,” Liam mutters, grinning at him. “I figured that you could use the company.”

“You figured wrong,” Louis replies, putting some of his things away so they’re not spread out all over the table. “I was doing fine on my own.”

Liam hums, nodding as he takes an obnoxiously large bite of his own burger. Louis can see the little bits of melted cheddar and bacon as he struggles to fit it all in his mouth. “You know, you could loosen up. The work day is over.”

“Yes, mine is over, but yours is not.”

“No, you’re right. But I have twenty minutes before I have to get back to the raptors, so I’m on a break, you might say.”

“And you chose to spend it with me.”

“Yeah, I did. I saw you in the lab but didn’t get the chance to talk to you.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Louis says as he flips through his papers. He’s not really reading anymore but he’s still going to act like he is. He’s not really doing a good job with the whole, ignore him and he’ll go away thing, but maybe he can do that now. He can just focus on the—

“Are you still upset that we didn’t work out?” Liam asks and that—Well, how can Louis ignore that?

“Excuse me?” Louis asks, dropping the papers down on the table. Yeah, he’s not even going to pretend that he’s paying attention to them anymore, not when Liam is throwing around ridiculous accusations like that.

“You heard me. Are you still upset that we didn’t work out?”

“We would have never worked out because you’re an idiot,” Louis throws out, nodding in satisfaction as he shoves his papers back into the folder they came from.

Liam just hums and takes a bite of his food, winking at Louis as he does so. And just, ugh. How disgusting of him.

Honestly, Louis has never met anyone as annoying as Liam Payne. It’s been ages since they—well, since they tried being an item. Years. It’s been years since they went out on a date, before Liam was hired as an actual employee; hell, it was before his interview. One of Louis’ most awkward interviews, seeing as he hadn’t actually realized Liam was visiting Isla Nublar for an interview, or that he was the candidate Simon had been raving about, the one they were only interviewing so they could go about procedure correctly, the one who pretty much already had the job.

Yeah, Louis didn’t realize any of that when he agreed to dinner.

It just…didn’t work out. They’re not compatible together. Not like they ever tried it after the one time, no. Louis knew that one failed date was more than enough, he didn’t need another one to prove to him that, while gorgeous and insanely in-shape, Liam wasn’t meant for him. Even still, he’s heard a lot of mumblings about sexual tension from Niall, but that’s not the case. That’s not the case at all.

Liam is annoying and well, Louis can’t really explain why he rubs him wrong in every way, he just does. And no amount of time together has been able to change that.

“So, I heard you told the new guy that I’m the best,” Liam says, cutting into Louis’ thoughts and he frowns, shaking his head.

“I was talking about when it comes to your job, not talking about like, whatever has that stupid smirk on your face.”

“Hmm, must have hurt to issue a compliment like that.”

“It did, actually,” Louis agrees, offering Liam a closed mouth smile that he hopes is obnoxious and rude and condescending all at once. It should be, if he’s doing it right. “Now, don’t you have mommy duties to take care of?”

Liam smirks at him and grabs a napkin off the table, finally wiping the little bit of cheese off his chin that Louis hadn’t noticed until this very moment, but has driven him crazy all the same.

“I guess I do,” he says, dropping the napkin on his empty plate. He pats Louis on the arm before he gets up, grabbing up his trash. “I’ll see you later, Lou.”

Louis watches him go, watches as he dumps his trash into the can and strides across the diner, the actions smooth and confident. He notices several people turn to look at Liam, probably because of his stupidly tight shorts hanging low - far too low to be acceptable for dress code, Louis will have to find an excuse to write him up for it – and before Liam can do something stupid like look over his shoulder, Louis drops his gaze back down to his reports and goes back to what he was doing before Liam came around.

><

The first thing Louis realizes when he walks into his office the next morning, is that it’s not going to be an easy day. And really, Louis knew this the second he woke up from the loud, obnoxious trill of his phone twenty minutes before his alarm. That really should have been his first clue, but apparently Louis’ brain was too groggy from sleep to process that he’s going to have a chaotic, shitty day.

Louis’ phone is going off, not just the one sitting on his desk, but his cell phone as well. He’s already spoken with seven different people and he’s been awake for fifteen minutes. He looks a mess, he hasn’t eaten, and he’s not sure what he’s supposed to be doing besides running around and telling people that he’s working on it.

But this is his job, this is what Louis signed up to do, this is what he’s paid to do, so he should know what to do. He should, but he doesn’t. Because yes this is his job, but he can’t tell anyone why one of the dinosaurs appears to be in distress and is acting abnormally, he just can’t. That’s why they’ve hired vets and scientists and specialists, but the vet is on vacation, hence the sudden – and totally unnecessary, probably – panic amongst almost everyone.

“What’s going on?” Zayn asks, stepping cautiously into Louis’ office after a tentative knock. Louis’ phone is still ringing and he’s three seconds from chucking it out the damn window, and he must look like he feels, to have Zayn staring at him like. “I got your text, is everything all right?”

“Don’t ask,” Louis mutters, picking up the phone and then hanging up.

“All right,” Zayn agrees, shrugging easily enough.

“I need you to find Niall and have him go to the aviary, tell him that one of the Anhangueras is acting up and it sounds like she’s caused a bit of structural damage,” Louis explains, shoving his phone into his pocket and scrambling to find his keys. “I don’t know how severe it might be, tell him to call the aviary if he needs specifics.”

“Is that it?”

Louis sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, he’ll know what he needs to do. Hang with him and I’ll meet up with you guys later, probably in about twenty minutes,” he says, snatching his keys out of his top drawer – a place he does not remember putting them – and smiling at Zayn. “I need to go and take care of something.”

“Yeah, okay,” Zayn mumbles, nodding as he steps out of Louis’ way.

Louis strides past him and moves down the hallway quickly, ignoring the vibrating of his phone in his pocket. He’s answered every question he can at this point; they can figure it out until he gets there.

><

Louis curses as he hits a bump in the road and bounces around in his seat, muttering under his breath as he continues to drive along the dirt road through the forest. The road’s fine, it’s Liam that he’s cursing.

Stupid Liam and his stupid bungalow housed on the far side of the island, right along the edge of the water so that he’s far away from everything else. Of course he’d think he’s special enough to live in his own little place, adding expansions onto it – or so Louis has heard – and building things along the beach – so Louis has heard – just so he can have his own little paradise away from everyone else and all the dinosaurs.

Well, not all the dinosaurs. Louis has heard stories about the Triceratops wandering out of their enclosure to pick at the plants outside of Liam’s place. He’s never seen it happen, nor has he really heard the story directly from Liam, but Niall tends to ramble as he works, and well, Niall should know if one of the dinosaurs broke free of their enclosure since he’d have to fix it. So Louis has never seen it or heard it from Liam, but since Niall has mentioned it, he feels inclined to believe it.

Louis tries Liam’s phone as he pulls out of the forest, driving along the edge of Triceratops Territory as the monorail sounds in the distance, park goers blissfully unaware to the park drama this morning. Louis envies them as he slams his phone down once more, another phone call ignored.

Liam’s bungalow is smaller than some of the others on the island, dark in color and surrounded by all kinds of trinkets. He has one of the parks quads parked out in front, along with a motorcycle and one of the company cars, almost like the one Louis pulls up alongside it in, but not quite exactly the same. Liam’s is dirty, for one thing, covered in mud from adventures that Louis doesn’t care to know about.

He stomps up the few steps leading to Liam’s door and starts knocking, fist against the wood as he bangs on it, waiting impatiently. There are no sounds coming from inside and Louis frowns, holding his fist back and listening carefully. He’s called everyone that normally works with Liam, notifying all of them to contact him as soon as they found or got a hold of Liam, but he hasn’t heard anything from them, nor can he hear anyone inside.

Which only leads Louis to believe that Liam is sleeping, so he resumes knocking, banging on the door until suddenly Liam is yanking it open and Louis stumbles back, startled.

“Uh,” Louis mumbles dumbly, his throat suddenly a bit dry as he stares in front of him. Liam is standing there, of course he is, barefoot and wearing nothing more than a pair of grey sweatpants hung low on his hips, obscenely low.

Louis can see…well, he can see more than enough to know that Liam doesn’t shave below the waist. Definitely not. Definitely not a thing that Liam does, it seems. And that’s…well, that’s just more than Louis ever needed to know in this lifetime.

“Yeah. Um,” Louis tries again, forgetting words and why he’s here, because Liam is still there. Still shirtless and running a towel through damp hair, squinting at Louis in the harsh morning light that’s practically making his skin glow. His skin is tanned and there’s muscle, defined muscles that look nice wrapped up and covered with his glowing skin, stretched and oh. Louis doesn’t see tan lines.

Admittedly, he can’t see everything, he knows that, but he can see a lot, and from what he can see, there’s no break from sun kissed to pale, just long expanses of golden skin. And that’s…not why Louis is here.

Why is Louis here? He can’t remember, and it feels like he’s choking on his tongue.

“Can I help you?” Liam finally asks, probably tired from being stared at, Louis would assume.

Louis breathes out slowly and blinks, turning his gaze up towards the ceiling. If he can’t see Liam then he can think properly. “Okay,” Louis starts and then a phone is ringing inside the house and everything clicks into place, the Anhanguera in the aviary. “Do you not answer that damn thing?”

“I do, yeah. It was going off while I was showering, but not much I can do about it from in there.”

“You could answer it.”

“I guess that I could, yeah. Were you trying to reach me?”

Louis scoffs, finally looking back at Liam with an unimpressed look on his face, because obviously he was trying to reach him. Everyone was trying to reach him, that’s why Louis was forced to drive all the way down here to grab him. “I was, actually. One of the Anhangueras is in distress. I don’t know what’s going on, they’re saying that she’s flying into the structure and just generally acting funny. And the vet is on vacation and—“

“And I’m the best you have to substitute,” Liam finishes, sighing as he tosses the towel down on something that Louis can’t see.

“Yeah, sure. That. So um, put some clothes on and come help. We need to get to the—“ Louis blinks, because Liam’s damn abs are doing their witchcraft on him again and he physically cannot remember where they’re going right now.

“The aviary.”

“Shut up,” Louis mutters, shaking his head. “Put some damn clothes on.”

Liam chuckles as he disappears into the house, disappearing from Louis’ sight. Louis only waits another minute before he leaves the porch, climbing back into his car and waiting, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel impatiently. He breathes a sigh of relief when Liam runs out of his bungalow in his normal clothes, the ones that hide muscles and tanned skin.

They ride to the aviary together, listening to the dinosaurs and monorail through Liam’s open window, his hand dancing in the wind as they go. Louis’ phone vibrates in the cup holder and they both ignore it, and it’s fine, at least until they reach the aviary and see that everyone is still acting like the world has just gone up in flames, and not like a dinosaur has started acting funny. Liam looks at him and Louis rolls his eyes, releasing a deep breath before he steps out of the car so that he can finally see what all the fuss is about.

As they walk inside they’re told that the Anhanguera in question has been captured and is waiting in one of the little medical suites for Liam to take a look at her. They go their separate ways and Louis takes off in search of Niall, wanting to hear the damage from a rational mind.

“What took you so long?” Niall asks as Louis approaches, shoving something into his belt with a grin on his face. Louis rolls his eyes and folds his arms over his chest, waiting to hear the news. “Right, nothing major on this end. Put a crack in one of the beams, but nothing serious. Nothing to make the whole place come crashing down.”

“In other words, Niall’s already taken care of it,” Zayn supplies, smiling when Louis looks at him.

“Exactly, just waiting for the fixative to harden, should be good in about an hour. As long as another one of these things doesn’t bash their head into it, we’ll be fine.”

“So no one is dying?”

“Can’t speak for the animals, but the building isn’t,” Niall answers and Zayn nods, agreeing with the assessment.

“So everyone is blowing up my phone, because?”

“Because we managed to stop the bird…animal…dinosaur…um, thing- from causing any real harm, not only to itself but also to the aviary,” Zayn answers. “And also because apparently you need to be informed whenever any decision, no matter how minor, is made.”

“That is the correct answer,” Louis points out, finally managing a smile as he laughs with Zayn. “But I’m glad it’s not worse. Happy to hear that everyone managed to get something done without their hands being held.”

“You can thank Zayn for that,” Niall says, scratching at the side of his nose. “He was the one to crack the whip. I just came to do my job, couldn’t really get that done with that damn dinosaur in the way.”

Louis smiles and breathes out, unfolding his arms to rest his hands on his hips. “Right, well. Thank you for that Zayn,” he says, running his fingers through his hair. “God, I haven’t even eaten breakfast yet”

“Well maybe we can grab some before we start whatever else you have planned,” Zayn suggests and Louis nods, and looks around, finding a raised bit of brick along the path and takes a seat, breathing out slowly.

He’s tired and everything feels like it’s falling apart, almost like he hasn’t been able to catch his breath since he first opened his eyes. It’ll pass, this feeling, Louis is sure of that. It’s been a busy morning and he’ll be fine, just like he always is. But he still needs a moment, just a moment to calm down the tingling of his nerves, to slow his heart rate down to normal, so he sits and waits, listening to Niall and Zayn talk about things. He catches bits and pieces of it, enough to know that they’re making plans for the weekend.

Louis bites down on his lip and looks away, turning his gaze to a waxy looking plant as he tries not to feel too much like a third wheel.

It’s not that he’s bothered they’re making plans or that they’re friends apparently, it’s just that…well, several years on the island and Louis hasn’t done anything like that, hasn’t found any friends of his own, hasn’t made any plans with anyone.

Most of his nights are spent alone, tucked away in his little apartment and waiting until it’s an appropriate time to head to bed so that he’s rested enough for the next day. Or sometimes he’ll go over the monthly reports and compare them, trying to find the pattern between the numbers. But that’s really only if there’s nothing good on TV or if he’s bored of his movies.

So yeah, Louis’ life isn’t as exciting as some of the other employees on the island, but that’s fine. That’s how he likes it, how he wants it, how he made it, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys sitting around and listening to other people chat about what a great time they’re going to have together after work hours, hours where most of the employees tend to, and want to, avoid Louis.

“And Liam will be there, won’t you, Payno?

Louis snaps back to attention at that, turning to see Liam approaching them, wiping sweat off his brow.

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he says, smiling at Niall as Louis scrambles up, brushing bits of dirt off his pants.

Liam looks tired and sweaty, with a bright red gash on his forearm, already clotting but Louis frowns at it all the same, because that wasn’t there this morning, which means that the dinosaur caused this.

“What happened?” asks Louis, his brows pinched together, watching as Liam sighs.

“Well, I’m not a veterinarian, nor are these my specialty, but my best guess would be that she’s sick, some kind of respiratory thing. Can’t tell you the exact name of it, but her lungs didn’t sound their best,” he explains, lifting up his arm to frown at the scratch there. “We put her on antibiotics and hooked her up to fluids, since we had to knock her out to do the evaluation.”

“You figure that out before or after she attacked ya,” Niall asks, grinning as Liam flips him off.

“Anything else?” Louis asks.

“Yeah, I put a call in to Dr. Andrews, told him what I knew, and then I told the aviary team to follow whatever instructions he gives them, but that’s the best we can do at this point,” he explains. “And there were some wounds around her neck, so I think she might have been fighting, or it’s from flying into the building. I can’t be certain since like I said, not my area of expertise.”

Louis sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, wondering why he ever thought that working with dinosaurs would be easy.

“Right well, if that’ll be all then I need to go feed the new raptors.”

“Right, of course. Well, thanks for everything,” he says, offering Liam a smile.

“No problem,” Liam mutters, swinging his arms back and forth so that his hands clap together when they meet in the front of him. He smiles and Louis smiles back, waiting for him to turn around and leave like he said he was going to, only he doesn’t move, just keeps staring and smiling at Louis.

“What?” Louis finally asks, fixing Liam with a look.

“You drove me here so I kind of need a ride,” he mumbles and oh.

“Fuck, right. Sorry,” Louis mumbles, scrambling to pull the keys out of his pocket. He did drive Liam here, yeah. He can remember that now. “Zayn, come on, we’ll go see the raptors and then we’ll grab breakfast.”

“Like hell you’re ditching me,” Niall speaks up, moving ahead of Louis to catch up with Liam as the walk towards the exit of the aviary. “I’m coming as well, gotta find something to do today and I haven’t seen the latest addition yet.”

><

The baby raptors are still inside of their tiny room, as Liam slips in through the door to feed them. Louis checks the thermostat to make sure that the room is hot enough for them, while Niall and Zayn press their faces against the glass to watch as Liam squats down on the floor, the little raptors watching him intently.

Louis has seen Liam do this a few times with different dinosaurs, whether it’s to help teach other handlers how to care for the young, or with the raptors, like he’s doing now, where he makes them believe he’s their mother. So having seen this a time or two, it’s lost some of its…novelty for him. Though, it is astonishing, he’ll give Liam that, the way that he’s been able to get the raptors to follow him around, nibbling at the food in his hand as they move around the room.

It’s fascinating, but it’s also almost annoying, to know that there’s another thing on Liam’s list of things that he’s absolutely fucking perfect at. It nibbles at Louis’ nerves, making his skin crawl to know that the other boy has a laundry list of talents and tasks he excels at. Louis’ not sure what most of them are, but he’s seen enough to know that the list probably goes on for days, as long as both of his legs, at the very least.

“Liam has a sick job,” Niall sighs fondly, and Louis’ can’t help the eye roll, it’s almost instinctual at this point, because there are actual hearts in Niall’s eyes, like Liam’s his favorite rock star and not some guy he knows feeding one animal to another.

“I don’t know,” mumbles Zayn, scratching at the stubble on his chin, “I’m not sure that I could do something like this. I think the dinosaurs are cool, obviously, but he puts a lot of trust in them. It’s almost foolish.”

Louis snorts at that because yeah, sounds about right. “You just described Liam perfectly, did you not?”

“Says you,” Niall mutters, looking at Louis strangely, a mixture of fond and unimpressed wrapped in one. “Liam’s great.”

And there it is, everyone’s biggest fan coming to Liam’s defense.

“The only thing Liam is great for,” Louis starts, folding his arms over his chest, “is for doing his job, unlike you. Should you still be standing here?”

“Should you?”

“Yes, actually. My job is to make sure that the rest of you don’t send this place crashing into the ground.”

“Technically,” Zayn says, cutting off Niall’s response, “you also help, you know, run the park.” Louis nods because yeah, that’s true. “So it wouldn’t really be unheard of that you would have moments where you shadow people.”

“See,” Louis says, clapping his hands together excitedly, “he gets it. That’s why he’s getting paid more than you.”

Niall snorts and mumbles something under his breath that makes Louis laugh, despite not really knowing what it is that he said.

There’s a brief moment where Louis wonders if he might have hurt Niall’s feelings or upset him to some degree because normally he jokes back, that’s their thing. They’re not exactly friends, sure, but the banter is there. They make subtle comments at each other and it’s fine, normally. Or at least Louis has always perceived it to be fine. And maybe that’s part of his problem, part of why people only see him as boss and not much else. But then there’s a voice behind him, one that cuts Louis off from saying anything.

“Who gets paid more than Niall?”

It’s Harry, tripping over the edge of the table and stumbling into the room gracelessly. He flicks the hair out of his eyes and Louis feels Zayn freeze up next to him, feels as his muscle go rigid. Huh, that’s odd, Louis thinks to himself, barely taking a moment to think about it before he remembers where they are and where Harry should be.

“Harry,” Louis says, voice carefully level, “Are you supposed to be here?”

“I am,” he says, smiling prettily at the room. “I’m on my lunch break, I can be wherever I want to be. And I want to be here, since I wanted to come up and check out the latest addition. Besides, I left Gwen in charge and you know how she’s my second in command.”

“That’s not a real title.”

“It is at the petting zoo,” Harry retorts, approaching the glass to the look at the raptors.

Louis watches him for a moment, biting back a remark about Harry’s uniform, or lack thereof if he’s to go by the undone buttons, which he should and he will. Some days he’s tempted to ask Simon to put the button rule in the dress code specifically for Harry, but he thinks that’s probably against some kind of company regulation somewhere. And he gets distracted, his eyes catching the way that Zayn’s sneaking glances at Harry every few seconds, causing his head to move the tiniest bit every so often.

Oh no, he thinks, watching Zayn carefully for several more seconds. Here he goes, and Louis knows that it’s hardly Zayn’s fault, Harry is everyone at the parks favorite crush; even some of the older men and their wives seem to fawn over him. And it’s not Harry’s fault either, because he can’t control the fact that people fall under his spell, a spell he doesn’t even know that he’s casting.

It’s just how Harry is, charming and wonderful, with more sex appeal than one person needs. So Louis doesn’t blame Zayn for being intrigued, for being unable to take his eyes off the other boy, because he’s hardly the first and he sure as hell won’t be the last, he’s sure.

Louis blinks his eyes back into focus when he hears the door to the room Liam was in being opened, followed by the tiny chirping noise of the baby raptors. The other boy moves across the room towards a sink, soaping up his hands and arms so that he wash away the dirt and grime of the other room.

“Are you coming, Liam?” Harry asks and Louis tilts his head a bit, unsure what the other boy is talking about. He heard them, knew they were talking while he was analyzing Zayn’s glances to Harry, but he hasn’t realized they were making plans, trying to figure out something to do while he was there, while he was standing in the room with them. “We’re going to get lunch together.”

“All of us?” Liam asks, looking at Louis as he shakes his hand above the sink. Louis shrugs because he doesn’t remember being included or asked to tag along, but yeah, sure. Zayn’s new and he could use the friends, so why not?

“Of course all of us,” Niall says, waggling his fingers at the baby raptors, telling them bye. His smile drops when he turns back to look Liam, his eyes already reading disappointment and Louis tries not to bite back a smile at that, because good, someone else should give Liam that look. “It’s been a long morning, Liam, we could all use it.”

The corner of Liam’s mouth quirks up as he nods, tossing a bit of paper towel into the recycling. He holds his arms out, motioning for Niall to lead the way.

><

The five of them are crowded around a table in the employee cafeteria, a mountain sized pile of food on each of their plates. There’s a loud chatter in the room as various people from various departments settle down for the meal. Louis smiles at the people who spare him a glance, most of them with vaguely shocked expressions on their faces to see him engrossed in something besides his work.

Louis tries not to pay it too much attention, at least to the insecure feeling in his gut as he tugs his shirt down and goes back to his meal, checking in to the conversation around him just in time to catch Niall ask Zayn why he chose Jurassic World.

Zayn shrugs and Louis can tell that he’s nervous, probably uncomfortable from everyone looking at him. “I don’t know,” he mumbles, twirling his fork around in his noodles. “Really, I could do my job anywhere. At any museum, any corporation, business in the world, but… I don’t know. I guess I wanted something interesting, and none of those would be as interesting as this. And that’s what I want, a job that’ll never get boring.”

“Isn’t that why we’re all on Isla Nublar?” Niall says and Zayn laughs, shrugging.

“I guess it would be.”

“Well, it’s kind of the same for me, isn’t it?” Niall starts, waving his hand around idly. “I used to work for the government, locked up in one of those old buildings that you have to pass twenty security clearances before you can enter. I used to run hacks on other people’s systems and found ways to fix ours, not just digitally though, but in all ways.”

Zayn seems impressed but Louis knew that, it’s his job to know that. It’s his job to know what each of his employees are best at, and what Niall’s best at is security.

“And I’ve always liked to build things,” Niall continues, “to fix things, and when the job opened up here, I was tired of breaking into other countries’ secure files, so I figured why not transfer.”

“You’re the most unassuming person imaginable,” Liam laughs, shaking his head. “Hard to imagine you hacking into Russia, isn’t it?”

“No, Russia’s smart. They only make it easy with the shit they don’t care about.”

“And what would that be?” Harry asks.

“Like I’m going to tell you,” Niall snorts, stabbing into his chicken. Harry frowns at him and Niall sticks out his tongue, undignified and unashamed.

“And what about you, Liam?” Zayn asks. “What makes a person want to train raptors?”

Liam smirks and Louis rolls his eyes. He’s heard this story a million times, most of them in his head as he recounts the memory of Liam’s interview. But he’s heard it from Simon before, heard it in the awe of his voice, as he recounted the story while watching Liam work. But that’s not going to stop Liam, he doesn’t care how many times Louis has heard his story, even if he doesn’t know.

“Used to be military, served two tours in the war before I decided that was enough for me, got a bit tired of serving,” he explains, dropping his fork to rest his elbows on the table. Poor table etiquette but Louis doesn’t want to call him out with everyone here. “I worked with the dogs during that time, training them and using them out in the field.”

“And that’s how you got the job?” Zayn asks.

No, Louis thinks, shaking his head.

“Not quite, though I think it might have influenced it a bit,” Liam says. “After that I worked at a zoo, did a bit of schooling to finish the degree I started before I decided to join the military. But that’s when Simon found me, working in the reptile house and helping out with some of the African animals, like rhinos and elephants when they got sick, when they were stressed. He saw me, offered me a job.”

“And the rest is history,” Louis mumbles, biting on his bottom lip when Liam turns to look at him, cheeks stained pink no doubt.

“Yeah, the rest is history,” Liam agrees, picking his fork back up to eat. “Guess we all wanted to do something interesting.”

“And of course everyone knows Harry’s story,” Louis grins sharply, watching as Harry sighs. “He came with the park, practically begged Simon to give him the job.”

Harry shrugs when everyone turns to look at him because most people probably don’t know it told in exactly this way, but so what? Harry doesn’t bother denying it and he doesn’t look ashamed either.

“You’re all just jealous of me,” Harry decides, nodding. “I’m the preferred employee.”

Louis snorts at that, rolling his eyes as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. There’s a slew of emails that he hasn’t gotten to yet and he busies himself with checking them, because the truth is, Louis really isn’t interested in telling his story. It’s not as fun or as exciting as anyone else’s.

It’s not exciting to tell people that the only reason he has a job here is because he was fired from so many other places, because no one else would give him a call back, because the truth is, Louis was a shitty worker before Simon gave him a chance.

And that’s not something he wants to talk about with the rest of the table, so he fiddles with his phone, waiting until the conversation shifts into safer territory to put it back in his pocket.

><

The week is long and strenuous, and leaves Louis feelings like he hasn’t had a moment to catch his breath. It feels like one thing after another, a snowball effect of disasters that leave him on edge, waiting for more, something bigger that’ll really ruin his week.

The one perk, Louis finds, is having Zayn with him.

It means that he doesn’t have to deal with the angry parent throwing a fit at one of their employees alone – and not even the appropriate employee, but to a teenager that’s selling lemonade – who had to call Louis for help. The parent was furious because their child was scared by the T-Rex during feeding time, which really isn’t Louis or Jurassic World’s fault, he tells them. There are signs posted for this very reason, signs that warn parents that feeding time might not be suitable for children.

Zayn had stood back during that, watching with wide eyes as the parent went red faced, shouting about a refund. A refund that Louis wouldn’t give them, seeing as feeding time is an event that is free to watch while at the park.

It’s not the first time Louis has had to deal with an angry parent, and it won’t be the last, but still. It’s tiresome, having to tell parents that it’s not the park’s fault that their child is scared of the dinosaurs. It takes all of his willpower to bite down on his tongue so he doesn't shout at them, doesn’t call them a bunch of idiots for not thinking their vacation through. But years of practice, and the strong will to keep his job, has helped him learn the art of biting his tongue.

And then there was a conference call with one of their investors, a rich idiot that has been trying to argue for the recreation of the Indominus Rex, something that Louis has repeatedly stated will not happen, ever.

Genetic modification – or rather, playing god – with the dinosaurs is a thing of the past. Aside from their normal modifications, of course, but there are some things that can’t be stopped when dealing with animals that are being brought back from extinction after millions of years.

Zayn had rolled his eyes during that, writing down on a piece of paper that the man on the phone was a moron. It was one of the lighter moments, where Louis was able to breathe out as he laughed. And it’s just what he needs, as they continue to work their way through different tasks.

Louis thinks that he might be able to cut Zayn loose early, at least earlier than other applicants, because Zayn actually cares about the job. He listens and absorbs everything that is thrown at him, taking it all in stride. He hasn’t shied away from any of it, nor has he complained.

Well, he has complained about the heat a bit, but Louis can’t blame him for that. It’s one of the only things that park-goers and employees can agree upon, that it’s far hotter than necessary on Isla Nublar.

“I think my shirt has adhered to my body,” Zayn says, leaning against the wall of the Innovation Center where they’ve stopped, breathing out harshly. He wipes at the sweat on his brow, frowning in the harsh light of the afternoon sun. “It’s the hottest day since I’ve started.”

“You’ve just started,” Louis states, biting back a smile. Zayn shrugs and waves him off, like it’s all a matter of semantics. “Anyway, it’s the weekend and you’ll be able to spend the next two days locked away in your house, if you want, enjoying the air conditioning.”

“Might have to do that,” Zayn mumbles.

“Or you could come out with me,” Niall says and Louis startles, turning quickly to see that the blond has snuck up on them, a wide grin on his face as he looks at them, like his smile will be his selling point.

“What are you doing?”

“Just having people over, nothing exciting.”

Zayn nods like he’s considering it while Louis pulls his phone out of his pocket, busying himself, because the conversation isn’t meant for him, and there are a slew of emails in his inbox that he still needs to answer.

“What people did you invite?” Zayn asks.

“Harry and Liam will be there, but that’s it,” Niall says, and Louis sees him shrug out of the corner of his eye. “I’d rather not have a bunch of people at my place, just the ones I like.”

“I’m honored to have gotten an invitation,” Zayn tells him, laughing. “I can make it, though. You’ll have to tell me which place is yours.”

“Yeah, sure thing, man. What about you?”

Louis blinks, staring up from his phone. He knows that he must look like an idiot, all deer in the headlights about this, but Niall’s talking to him. “What about me?”

“Are you coming to my place?”

“Oh,” Louis mutters, biting down on his bottom lip.

There are a million things that he should be doing right now, a million things that he’ll have to get done tonight. Work that he’s gotten behind on and work that he could get ahead on for next week, to make things a bit easier for himself. And of course, he should probably call his mother and see how she’s doing, how the girls and Ernie are doing, so that’ll take up a bit of time, since he’ll need to figure out the time zone difference again, since he never remembers. And then there’s Simon, who needs to be debriefed about what happened with the idiot from Coca Cola that wanted Indominus back.

So yeah, there’s a lot that he needs to do and well…truth be told, this sort of feels like a pity invite. It has to be, since he’s standing next to Zayn while Niall asks him.

“Well?”

“I’d love to, but I’m really busy tonight,” Louis tells him, fidgeting as he shoves his phone back in his pocket, shrugging in a way that he hopes feels genuine. “There’s a lot that I need to get done, so I’m not sure that I’ll be able to make it, sorry.”

Niall nods but a grin spreads slowly across his face that’s troubling. “That’s fine,” he says and Louis smiles, grateful to get out of that, “because I’m having people over tomorrow.”

Louis swallows, trying to stop his smile from turning into a grimace as he nods, watching as Niall laughs, patting him on the back in excitement.

><

Several floors below Louis’ apartment is Niall’s, tucked away in the same corner on the opposite side of the building. So Louis knows before knocking that Niall’s apartment faces the back of the island, faces the side where he can see the trees and the dinosaurs roaming freely, while Louis’ apartment faces the front, allowing him to watch the park’s visitors as the weave through Main Street, coming and going from the monorail. These facts already set the mood for the stark differences among their apartments.

As Louis is welcomed inside by a flush faced Niall, who looks blown away by the fact that Louis actually came. And instead of trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or not, Louis focuses on his surroundings. He can tell, just by standing in the entryway that Niall’s place is homier…and cleaner.

There are pictures and posters on the walls – of people and sports teams and musical artists – along with some framed and placed on a bookshelf, along with other little knick-knacks and collectables. His place is just filled with stuff, with memories. And as Louis looks around, he feels like he’s getting a snapshot into Niall’s mind, seeing his life just laid out for him and whoever else might visit his place, because Niall has nothing to hide. He’s an open book. He’s trusting and willing to invite everyone inside.

And Louis knows that he’s not like that at all. He’s not ready or willing to invite anyone inside of his own apartment, that’s just not who he is anymore. But he thinks, running his fingers along the blanket thrown over the back of the couch, that he understands Niall a bit more now.

“Louis, I didn’t know you were coming,” Harry says, grinning from his place on the couch. There’s a bowl of chips on his lap, grease smeared on his fingers as he waves.

“Yeah, well. I don’t think I had much choice, Niall pulled my leg a bit.”

Harry laughs and nods, like it’s a typical response. And he looks much the same as he does at work, which surprises Louis. Well, aside from his hair being down. His shorts are still riding up to the middle of his thigh, and his soft, cream-colored shirt is loose and open, showing off a long, smooth expanse of skin.

“Louis, sit. You’re not a prisoner,” Niall says with a laugh, shoving a beer into Louis’ hands.

“Sorry, was just admiring your place. It’s nice,” he says, smiling as he takes his seat on the edge of the couch, putting a safe distance between him and Harry.

“Yeah? I just re-did it. Got a bit tired of how it was, so I switched some furniture around and swapped out posters.”

“He didn’t actually move any furniture,” Harry says. “He shouted instructions to Liam. He’s the real hero of this place.”

“Piss off,” Niall laughs, grabbing a chip out of the bowl on the coffee table and tossing it at Harry. “Yes, Liam did the heavy lifting, but he volunteered for it. I wasn’t going to deny him the opportunity. And I’ve got a shit knee, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean anything. You’re supposed to lift with your back, not your legs. That’s probably why you’ve got a shit knee.”

“Wait,” Louis says, surprising himself as he contributes to the conversation. “You have a bad knee? And you’ve been working on it?”

“Uh,” Harry mumbles, eyes wide as he tries to figure out how to back pedal.

Niall sighs and shakes his head. “I’m fine, and Louis, I invited you…like, the person you, not my boss you. So yell at me on Monday for it.”

“I wasn’t going to yell,” Louis defends, but as his boss, he has the right to know that one of his employees is working when injured. Because…well, Louis has a boss too, one that’s bigger and scarier than he is, who won’t be happy if someone is injured on the job. That’s kind of how lawsuits can happen, and the last thing Jurassic World needs is an employee getting injured.

A chip hits Louis in the face, on his left cheek right below his eye. He blinks, his eyes coming back into focus as Niall and Harry cackle wildly.

“Did you throw a chip at me?”

“I didn’t.” Harry grins prettily at him, biting down on his own chip, as if the action proves his innocence.

“I did,” Niall tells him, not the least bit ashamed of his actions. “You were thinking and that’s just not what you’re supposed to do when you’re out with friends, is it?”

Louis smiles politely and shrugs, because this is the first time he’s been invited out on a weekend in...a really long time. But he does think that some kind of thinking should be involved, since otherwise nothing would be done and everyone would kind of just be sitting around like giant lumps.

“Knock, knock,” someone calls from the doorway and Louis turns, breathing out slightly when he sees Zayn. He’s got a case of cider in his hands, waving it for everyone to see. “You said to walk in, so I hope it’s cool that I did.”

“Wouldn’t have suggested it if it wasn’t all right,” Niall says, smiling at him. “And thanks for bringing drinks, was running low.”

“Not a problem,” Zayn replies. “Hey, Lou, you good?”

“Yeah, great. You?”

“Can’t complain,” he says, as he hands the drinks to Niall. He smiles at Harry, who waves at him as Niall asks Zayn a question.

“Hey, you want something to eat?”

Zayn shakes his head, stepping around Louis to sit in the middle of the couch. The action seems a bit ridiculous, seeing as that there is another chair available next to him so he wouldn’t have to be crammed in the middle of two people. But then Harry’s offering a chip, holding out a bowl of salsa that Zayn takes enthusiastically, grinning at Harry, as he takes a bite.

“That’s delicious,” Zayn says around a mouthful of food, his cheeks pinking as Harry’s smile widens.

“Really? I made it myself.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, it’s my own special recipe.”

Louis snorts and makes a note to ask Zayn about that later. He probably won’t get the chance to be alone with him until Monday, so he tucks it away in his memory, filing it with the other things he needs to remember to do. Louis wants to figure out what Zayn’s thinking and feeling in regards to Harry, to the little crush that Louis’ is almost positive that he has.

They’re still talking salsa as Niall begins to question Louis about his interests. He asks him what he likes to do when he’s not at work, since he can’t remember Louis mentioning anything before. And he apologizes about not knowing, or rather about not remembering, which makes Louis feel guilty because he’s never told him.

So he does now, tells him how he doesn’t really do much of anything, just kind of stays in and…thinks about work. Niall doesn’t take that answer well; instead he questions Louis further, trying to pry the answers out of him with a crowbar. Like Louis keeps them behind a locked, heavy door that he has to work to open.

“Liam’s here,” Harry shouts and while Louis is grateful for the distraction from Niall’s questioning, he can’t help but roll his eyes as he looks up towards Liam.

“Sorry I’m late,” Liam says, taking a cider from Niall and analyzing it carefully. “I was feeding the raptors.”

And he looks so effortlessly cool in a white Henley shirt, sleeves rolled up and jean shorts hung low. Louis wants to push him, just to say that he did, for no reason other than because Liam is standing there.

“Can’t someone else do that?” Zayn asks.

“When they’re a bit older, yeah,” Liam says, dropping down on the other chair, arm thrown over the back. “But right now it’s imperative that they see me as their parent, and me alone. Other people can be their pack mates, can live in the established family that we have, but no one else should be seen as their parent. It makes things confusing for them.”

“Oh god,” Niall groans loudly, stopping Zayn from asking anything else. “Enough about dinosaurs. Please. I want to get drunk and watch a movie. Or just watch a movie, forget getting drunk.”

“Then put something on,” Harry says, shrugging. “No one’s stopped you.”

“What do you have?” Zayn asks, leaning back against the couch.

“Everything,” Harry answers for him and Niall nods, shrugging when Louis raises his brow at him.

And true to his word, Niall has an array of movies hidden inside of a closet in his hall. He has them organized by genre; making it easier to choose which ones they don’t want to watch. Romance goes out first, then horror after Harry establishes that he’d really rather not have to drive through the dark forest after watching something about someone chasing people in the dark.

They’re stuck on action and comedy, arguing about which to choose – Niall and Louis want comedy, while Zayn and Liam want action, and since Harry doesn’t care, they end up with Iron Man, a movie that Harry says has both comedy and action.

And that’s fine, because one of Louis’ biggest weaknesses is Marvel movies. So he settles back on the couch, beer resting on his knee as he watches. It’s enough to keep him interested, to set him at ease and make things more comfortable.

The conversation settles into something light, talking mostly about what they’re watching on screen. And Louis can do this, he can talk about the wonder that is Tony Stark, talk about the machines he builds, along with the betrayal of the people he loves, the people who claim to love him.

It’s something that he knows and he doesn’t have to think about it, because he’s seen these movies a thousand times. Sometimes they play in the background while he works at home, marathon after marathon, as he filters through emails and files.

As they watch the movie, Louis learns a couple things about his co-workers. He learns that Niall comments on everything, even if it’s not a complete sentence, he’ll make a noise, talk to himself, or jerk his body in someway. It’s not too surprising, since he has noticed Niall is one for fidgeting, and it’s Niall, so Louis isn’t too annoyed by it, not like he would be with most people.

He also learns that Harry tends to doze off. They’ve had to wake him up several times because of his snoring, loud and deep, almost obnoxiously so.

Then there’s Zayn, who turns out to be the only tolerable person to watch a movie with, because he actually watches it. Zayn doesn’t try and comment on every scene change, doesn’t ask if anyone thinks Robert Downey Jr is wearing a prosthetic chest in every scene of the movie, or just the one where Pepper has her hand inside of Tony Stark’s chest.

But worst of all, is Liam. Louis learns – or rather, confirms – that Liam is the biggest idiot in the world. He learns that at no point in time should anyone ask for his opinions, because he’s wrong and doesn’t know a damn thing.

“Are you kidding me?” Louis asks, unable to control himself any longer. He’s listened to enough.

“Excuse me?” Liam asks, bushy brows furrowed as he looks at Louis, head cocked.

“I’m saying, are you kidding me?”

“Why would I be kidding you?”

“Well, the only way that you could see Tony Stark as the villain of the franchise is if you’re kidding. Otherwise, you’re just a moron that obviously hasn’t been paying attention because they’re too distracted by the big fancy muscles, and cute face of Captain America.”

“I never said he was the villain of the franchise.”

“You might as well have,” Louis retorts, slapping his hand down on the arm of the couch. “You said that you don’t think he’s as nice of a guy as some of the other characters and then you started beating your meat while talking about Captain America.”

“I wasn’t,” Liam starts, breathing out harshly, “beating my meat. I was simply saying that he was more admirable as a superhero.”

“More admirable? More admirable?” Louis says, just the slightest bit hysterical. He can’t help but scoff, nodding as he looks around the room, waiting for someone else to jump in and back him. When no one does, Louis continues. “Right, forget being a normal human being, with absolutely no training whatsoever, just your brain and a knack for technology, and making yourself a superhero.”

“Anyone could have done that.”

“No, only Tony could have. He’s the smartest person in this entire franchise.”

“IQ-wise.”

“No…well, yeah. But like, in other ways too. In every way, actually. He built his suit because he was trapped in a cave somewhere, betrayed by another father figure, and decided he wanted to turn his shit around help people instead of hurting them. That’s admirable.”

“I never said it wasn’t.”

“No, you just said that going to war and injecting yourself with an experimental serum was more admirable,” Louis scoffs, shaking his head. He’s startled when someone laughs, when Niall laughs.

Louis stares at him with wide eyes, frowning, because it’s not funny. Louis’ opinion about this shouldn’t be humorous to him. He looks around, noticing Harry sighing and Zayn staring at the television, though he looks about the same as Harry, exhausted.

“What’s so funny?” Liam asks, and finally. Finally, he’s saying something decent.

“Nothing, just the sexual tension in this room is ridiculous,” Niall wheezes out, eyes shut tight as he laughs, clutching at his stomach.

Louis’ stomach drops at the suggestion, the allegation that he’s arguing with Liam because of sexual tension. It’s ridiculous to think that Louis would want anything more from him than that he does his job and stays out of Louis’ way.

Louis knows what he’s like, knows how insufferable Liam can be when he tries to date someone. And Louis isn’t going to play into Niall’s sexual tension nonsense anymore, because it’s exhausting defending himself, and apparently it only stokes the fire more. Because the more Louis argues, the more Niall rants to him about opening up his heart and letting love in.

Louis stares forward at the television, biting the inside of his cheek and focuses on the movie. Eventually, Niall stops laughing and turns back as well, going back to ranting about how he hates Obadiah Stane.

When the coast is clear, Louis spares a glance in Liam’s direction and feels the all too familiar flicker of annoyance burning deep in his chest when he sees that Liam seems unfazed by Niall’s accusations that they have sexual tension. And knowing that, Louis can blame his horrible night on Liam Payne.

><

Later that night when Louis crawls into bed, he realizes that it wasn’t an awful night. Sure there were some things that he wished hadn’t happened, but for the most part, Louis enjoyed himself. It was nice going out, having something to do besides wandering around his place aimlessly and doing tasks that he should be getting paid for.

He left Niall’s apartment shortly after the movie, waiting until after Harry leaves so that he’s not the first, but making sure that he wasn’t the last. Honestly, Louis doesn’t really remember what is socially acceptable when it comes to group outings, if it’s okay to hang around and linger. But judging by the fact that Liam hadn’t gotten up out of his chair, Louis figured it might have been all right to do.

But truth be told, Louis really didn’t feel like staying around. His insides felt all weird, tingly, like he was on edge. But now that he’s lying in bed, Louis feels better as he scrolls through his emails, deletes some spam and moving others to their appropriate folders. It’s how he stumbles across a message from his mom that he missed. He opens it and breathes out a sigh, already feeling a bit more at peace as he reads her words.

She tells him about his sisters and his baby brother, attaching pictures of them as well. There’s a slight pang in his chest, the sensation overwhelming with how much he misses them. There’s a picture of his baby brother with his arms around his baby sister, wide smiles on their faces, and as he looks at them, he realizes that soon they won’t be babies anymore. They’ll be old enough to try and argue that point, the age where the term baby is an insult, the worst thing they could ever be, because as his mother tells him, he’s very much a big boy now.

Louis stares at the pictures, saving them all to his camera roll, and makes a mental note to reply in the morning after he’s gone over his schedule. He wants to plan a trip for them, something to get everyone with him for just a little while.

><

Louis is bored. Out of his mind bored as he stares up at his ceiling. He’s already caught up with his emails, sending out replies to everyone that he can, forwarding the rest to the appropriate parties so that they can take care of the rest. And he doesn’t really want to open any files and try to do anything productive. It sounds awful, having to do anymore work.

He considers going to the Bamboo Forest for a walk, just something to do so he’s not just sitting here. But it’ll be packed with visitors, and he’s not sure that he actually wants to deal with them today. Some of them probably know that he works at the park, and it’s Sunday, but that won’t stop them from complaining if they can.

And being that it’s Sunday, Louis knows that Niall and Harry are down at the golf course, because that’s where Niall always is on his days off, and Louis mentioned joining him the night before. Louis could show up, he reckons, but he really doesn’t know how to play. And he really doesn’t care to learn, because contrary to what Niall might think, it’s a boring sport designed for middle-aged men. At least in Louis’ opinion, which should count as a whole lot, he thinks.

So with all of those options out the window, Louis gets dressed and heads down to his car. The only thing to do is go for a drive, taking all the restricted roads around the park. It’ll give him privacy and allow him to be alone while still getting out. And he can check on the dinosaurs, so it’s really sort of like working as well.

It’s a good idea in every way, just like most of Louis’ ideas tend to be.

The island is warm, the sun beating down on his arm that’s resting against the door as he drives. The windows are down and the wind drifts across his skin, making the island feel even better. It’s not often that Louis can say that, can say that he loves the way it feels outside. Part of him still isn’t used to it, the year round warmth without a break – unless he were to count the fact it’s a little less intense some months, which he doesn’t – but today, today is perfect.

He weaves through the forest with practiced ease, mindful of the fact that there could be tourists roaming around where they’re not meant to be. Technically they’re not in the restricted sections, but that doesn’t change anything. Certain visitors aren’t content with just the content that the park provides; it’s why they need Zayn. Zayn’s smart enough and talented enough that he’ll be able to help come up with new attractions, attractions that will ease the visitors who crave a bit more.

Louis is just beginning to cut through the Gallimimus Valley when he sees something strange. Or rather…no, it couldn’t be.

Louis pulls the car forward slowly, mindful of the fact that a herd is running towards him. He knows they’ll run around the car, they’ve done it before, but still. As he rolls through the valley, coming to a stop when he finds a spot that allows him to really see if what he thinks he’s seeing is what he’s really seeing.

He frowns as he opens the door of his car, stepping out, cupping a hand over his eyes, and watching. Visitors aren’t allowed to run with the dinosaurs, it’s a liability that would cost a fortune if they were to try and insure that attraction.

But no, it’s not a guest.

Running through the valley, among a herd of dinosaurs, is Liam Payne.

Louis can tell that he’s laughing, wearing a pair of red running shorts and a white shirt. It’s sticking to him, from sweat or because of the breeze, Louis doesn’t know. But the idiot is running through the park with a bunch of dinosaurs. Louis doesn’t know how he’s keeping up, since the Gallimimus are known for their speed, reaching up to thirty miles an hour. But Liam’s doing it, running alongside the dinosaurs as best as he can.

Louis stands against his car, watching and hoping that his mouth isn’t hung open. Honestly, he’s not amazed. Not by a long shot. Really, he’s concerned. Who runs with dinosaurs? Liam does, clearly, but it just goes to show that there’s something beneath the surface, something not as great as everyone makes him out to be.

The dinosaurs zip by Louis’ car, creating a stronger breeze as they go. Liam stops, laughing as he rests against the other side of the car, grinning at Louis.

“What are you doing?” Louis asks, head cocked to the side as he watches Liam.

Liam breathes out harshly, clutching at his ribs. “I’m out for a jog. What are you doing?”

“I don’t know,” Louis tells him, shrugging. “Just out for a drive, but thinking about heading to the beach.” He doesn’t need to explain himself to Liam, but whatever, he can indulge him until he finds out if Liam’s lost his mind.

“Huh,” Liam mutters, nodding. “Does that always include cutting through here so that you can spy on me?”

“Excuse you? I had no idea that you ran through here like a wild animal.”

If possible, Liam’s smile widens, like he’s not insulted by what Louis just said, which is…well, that’s rude, actually. Louis was trying to insult him so he should be insulted, it’s only right. It’s only fair. The world doesn’t work if it’s not fair and just, so Liam should uphold his humanly duty and be offended by Louis’ words. It’s what a genuinely nice person would do, which just proves that Liam isn’t as nice as everyone thinks he is.

“It’s funner this way,” Liam says.

“You mean more fun,” Louis corrects.

Liam laughs and shrugs. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“So what makes you think this is a good idea? Besides thinking that you’re having more fun.”

“I don’t know. It always reminds me of that episode of Friends, the one where Phoebe runs really weird and Rachel gets embarrassed by her.”

“This makes you think of Friends?”

“Yeah, because Phoebe’s right. You have more fun when you do it this way.”

“Phoebe didn’t run with dinosaurs, Liam.”

Liam’s mouth quirks up at that, the faintest trace of fond that makes Louis’ skin prickle in…anger, maybe. “Yeah well, they don’t have any teeth. The damage they could have on me is fairly minimal, I’d say. Well, at least compared to the other dinosaurs.”

“What a shame,” Louis mutters, making a mental note to ask someone in the Creation Lab if they can modify the Gallimimus to have teeth the next time they decide to make more.

Liam smiles again and shrugs, breathing out as he looks around. There are still a few stragglers running around, while a group of Parasaurolophus wanders idly, almost in slow motion compared to the quick nature of the Gallimimus. Louis has always loved the Parasaurolophus. They’ve always been one of his favorites; at least they were when he first started.

It’s been ages since he’s been out there with them, since he’s interacted with them more than just strictly necessary. Their skin a combination of greens and browns, all arranged in patterns from their tails to the tips of their crest. Their cries low and deep, like bits of a baritone saxophone, so deep and rich that he can’t help but close his eyes and listen to them. But he hasn’t done that in a long while.

“You said you were going to the beach.”

“Yeah,” Louis says, blinking as he breaks his daze.

“Good, then you can give me a ride back home,” Liam says, grinning as he pushes off of Louis’ car, moving to get into the passenger seat.

“Wait, what? No, no, no. Out. Out of the car.”

Louis did not give him permission to be inside of the car, and he’s sure as hell not going to allow this to happen. He stands there, feet firmly planted on the ground and arms folded over his chest. He refuses to move. He’ll never move from this spot again. He’s never going to go anywhere for as long as Liam is in his car.

“You look like a fool,” Liam calls through the open window. “The car’s running, might as well get in and take me home.”

“Take yourself home.”

“All right,” Liam mutters, making like he’s going to climb across the center console to get into the driver’s seat. “Car will be at my place.”

“No it will not,” Louis retorts, yanking open his car door and getting inside. Fine. Fine, he’ll move. He’ll take Liam home and then he’ll drive all the way to the other side of the island so he can enjoy the ocean in peace. “You smell disgusting.”

Liam laughs, lifting up his arm to sniff under his arm. He shrugs at the result, like he can’t smell the vile, repulsive stench rolling off his body.

“Honestly, you’re one of the worst smelling people that I’ve ever known.”

Liam doesn’t reply to that, instead he turns his head to the side and looks out the window as Louis turns the car around. If he has to head towards Liam’s house then he needs to get back towards the monorail and take the road near it. It’ll be fastest, he thinks.

“Hey,” Liam says after they’ve been driving for a while. They’ve made it near the monorail, the drive thus far in silence aside from the sounds of the park, the faint noises of the visitors and dinosaurs. But nothing from Liam, and to be honest, Louis had considered that a gift from the gods. Apparently he was wrong. “Louis?”

“Yeah?”

“It was really nice seeing you out this weekend. At Niall’s place,” he says and Louis quirks his brow, looking at Liam out of the corner of his eye. “It’s just, I don’t really get to see you that often.”

“We work together, Liam. You see me all the time.”

“Not like, after hours. It seems like you disappear on Friday night then come back Monday morning.”

Louis nods and waits, wanting to see if Liam is going to say anything else. It feels weird to know that Liam has noticed that fact, how Louis keeps to himself when he’s off the clock. Louis’ always felt like he’s slipped under people’s radars, that he’s fit into the role of boss and that no one would want to see him outside of work hours. No one wants to see Simon, so he figured that he just fell right into the same lump.

“Yeah, it’s almost like I planned it that way,” he says, when he realizes that it’s far too long since Liam said something to him.

“Did you?”

Louis risks it and turns his head towards Liam, grinning at him. He shrugs and then turns back to the road, because he’s not going to talk to Liam about this. Not here, but most definitely not at all. It’d feel like ammunition, if Liam knew how Louis really felt about it all. So he stays quiet, focuses on navigating through Triceratops Territory so that they can get to Liam’s place quickly.

As Louis pulls up in front of Liam’s place, he notices a string of clothes hanging out on a line, waving in the wind. He can see a pair of boxers hung up and nods to himself, because yeah, after seeing Liam in the low slung sweatpants, he wasn’t sure if Liam really knew what underwear was. But there it is, concrete evidence that he does.

“Can I ask you something?” Liam asks, staring through the windshield.

“You just did, but yeah. Sure.”

Liam turns to look at him. He looks like he really wants to say something, wants to say something really important, but he doesn’t. Instead he stares, looking at Louis in a way that makes Louis frown, because it’s invasive in a way, like Liam is trying to look through him to figure out the answer to his unspoken question.

Finally he sighs, the breath coming out of him quickly and harshly. “Do you want some company down on the beach?”

“What?” Louis asks, confused.

“You said you were going to be beach, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, do you want some company?”

“Oh,” Louis laughs, shaking his head. “No, I’ll be fine.”

“Come on,” Liam urges, reaching out to shake Louis’ arm. “It’ll be lonely down there. Let me go with you. I’ll just run inside and change my clothes, and then we can head down to the beach. There’s a nice bit right behind my place. We can go down there together.”

“Liam, really, I—“

“It’ll be fun, I promise.”

Louis looks at him and breathes out, turning away from Liam as he mumbles something under his breath that _might_ be something like ‘yeah, sure, whatever.’ Or at least that’s the way Liam takes it, because he woots and pats Louis on the shoulder, startling him before he’s rushing out of the car and running towards his place.

Louis will adamantly deny that he ever agreed to spend an afternoon on the beach with Liam. He will. Someone could do something really awful to him, demanding to know, and he’ll tell them that he never said Liam could go.

He closes his eyes and breathes out, because Liam said that it would be fun. It would be fun the two of them down on the beach, but fun really isn’t the idea that he had in mind for this afternoon. He’s not sure how it’ll go, but the swirling in his stomach doesn’t lead him to believe that anything good could come of this.

><

The beach near Liam’s place is nice. Well, most of the beaches on the island are nice. But Liam’s is maintained, like he’s been taking care of it himself since he moved into his little house. Louis likes it, likes how Liam installed a bench near the path he’s paved so that they can stop and take their shoes off, leaving them there so they’ll know where to find them later. There’s a little shack off to the side, where the sand meets the grass. Louis doesn’t ask what’s inside, just follows Liam down to the water.

The ocean is warm against his feet and right here, in this very spot, it’s almost like it’s just him and the world. He closes his eyes, feeling the waves come and go, causing his feet to sink in the wet sand a bit. But there’s nothing else, it’s just Louis and this. He can’t hear the dinosaurs and he can’t hear the tourists, just the ocean crashing against land. Louis breathes out softly, content in this moment.

When he opens his eyes, Liam’s smiling at him, eyes crinkled shut. He’s missing his shirt, having left it with their shoes next to the bench, but he is still wearing a pair of green shorts, hung low like the sweatpants from the other morning.

Louis wonders if he knows how to properly wear pants, if they hang anywhere other than his pubic region, because they’re really far too low to be considered on his hips.

Louis blinks when he realizes that he’s been staring at the jutting bone of Liam’s hip, the bone that protrudes out a bit, almost forcing his eyes to move downward towards the soft trail of hair there. And like, really, like everything with Liam, it’s all against Louis’ will.

Or at least it feels like that, because apparently his subconscious doesn’t know what to do with a little bit of hip and hair and muscle and just…whatever. Liam likes to show off his body, fine. Louis gets it. He enjoys doing those things where you lie on the ground and bend your stomach in half and bang your elbows against your knees. Louis can see that very clearly.

God, will he ever stop being distracted by whatever witchcraft Liam has going on down there?

He blinks once more and forces his gaze up towards Liam’s face, because it really is rude to stare at someone like that. And Liam’s right there, so he’s been watching Louis practically – but not quite – drool over him. But when his eyes connect with Liam’s, he doesn’t have the smug grin on his face that Louis imagined, instead he’s looking at him intently, seriously, intensely, like he still wants to say something but he’s not.

“What?” Louis asks, looking down at himself self-consciously, wondering if maybe his pants are unzipped.

“Nothing,” Liam tells him, smiling. “Come on, let’s walk.”

Louis wants to argue with him, wants to stop him from going anywhere until he figures out what’s on Liam’s mind. But part of him isn’t really sure if he does want to know what he’s thinking, because it could be anything, and for once, Liam isn’t getting on his nerves.

And it would be nice to keep it that way, since it really does get annoying to constantly feel like he has to wring the other boy’s neck. So he lets it go, not wanting to ruin a perfectly good moment between them, and follows Liam down the coast.

“Have you seen the new raptors today?” Louis asks, knowing full well that Liam has.

“Yeah, I fed them and went for my run. Took the monorail there. I’ll probably have to head back there after this to feed them again. I hid little bits of food around for them in the room, just to work on their tracking skills now.”

“How are they doing?”

“Pretty well, I guess. They’re all still alive, and fighting is to a minimum, just normal baby play.”

“Baby play,” Louis repeats, snorting.

“That’s what it is, they’re babies,” Liam retorts, sounding offended, like Louis insulted his children. And maybe he did. This is Liam after all. “Maybe it’s not as…innocent as human babies, but all species have babies and they all play differently.”

“That’s true…I guess.”

“You guess,” Liam repeats, and this time he snorts, gently nudging Louis with his elbow. “Did you know that we’ve already named them?”

Louis rolls his eyes because he has a very good idea of who this ‘we’ is that named the raptors. Obviously Liam, and then…well, the only other person in the park that actually cares about that sort of thing is Niall. He just didn’t think Niall would get to Liam this quickly.

“You can not possibly think that’s a good idea.”

“What?”

“Naming the raptors. Naming any of these dinosaurs.”

Liam looks at him, brow cocked and face pulled together in confusion. “Why are you so afraid to admit these animals are more than just numbers on paper, but rather, living, breathing beings.”

“I know that,” Louis says, voice picking up an octave as he tries to defend himself. “I do know that. But naming them means growing attachments to them, and no offense, but that doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.”

“Hmm,” Liam hums, nodding like he gets it. Like he’s figured something out. And screw him, Louis is allowed to feel however he wants about the dinosaurs in this park. And screw anyone else that thinks he doesn't know that these dinosaurs are real, that he doesn’t know they’re more than just assets to the park, to Simon.

“We used to name the animals at the zoo,” Liam says finally, stare at the sand between his toes as they walk. “Every single one of them. So why wouldn’t it be a good idea here?”

“I don’t know,” Louis says, because he’s feeling slightly annoyed. And he’s already explained the attachment theory, shouldn’t that be enough?

“What if I don’t tell you the names, since they’re not official or anything yet? We’re still testing them out, seeing how they feel. Or no, no,” Liam says, bouncing a bit as he grins. “What if you get to name one?”

“I’m not naming one.”

“I think you should, it might help you change your mind about it.”

Louis shakes his head and looks away. He wishes that he had a better argument for why he doesn’t like it besides that he just doesn’t. But well…maybe it’s just because it makes his job a little easier, a little more bearable to say they lost insert file number than it would if they were to say they lost Ethel or Goldie or Maisy or Husky Ranger – Louis will never understand why Niall thought that was a clever name – but who knows if that’s really the reason.

All Louis does know, is that he doesn’t enjoy the idea behind it all, and not because he views the dinosaurs as anything other than what they are.

That’s how the last park failed, because they failed to see what these dinosaurs really are. They failed to understand that just because they created them, doesn’t mean that they’re not what they once were, maybe even more so with the genetic fill-ins that they have to do.

And Louis isn’t like that, he doesn’t think like that.

But he does agree that they shouldn’t get attached to these animals in the way that some people do. Not like Liam and Niall have, because things happen. And Louis, well…he doesn’t like the naming thing. It’s an attachment and he doesn’t want it, but not in the way that Liam and Niall and everyone else must think. And if Liam doesn’t get that, if he thinks that Louis is some insensitive prick, then he can go fuck himself.

“There’s one that’s a little sandy looking, with dark turquoise stripes down her sides like a zebra. She’s gorgeous and a little feisty, likes to nip my fingers more than the others. Sometimes she’ll tug on my pants, chew on them to try and get a reaction out of me. I think you’ll like her, since you have so much in common,” Liam laughs, smiling fondly as he talks about the raptor. “I’ll leave her unnamed for now. Give you some time to think about it, because I think you’ll change your mind.”

Liam smiles at Louis as he finishes, nodding to himself. And Louis ignores the implications that he’s anything like a dinosaur or that he’ll chew on Liam’s jeans just to get a reaction out of him, because he thinks that he’s wrong about what Liam thought about him. It doesn’t seem like Liam thinks that he’s heartless, but rather that he might understand where Louis is coming from in a way that Louis doesn’t. That thought settles funny under his skin, tingling and spreading…warmth, maybe. He’s not sure.

><

The week is busier than usual, with the decision to move one of the baby triceratops out of the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo and into Triceratops Territory. Louis leaves Harry to plan it all, making him coordinate the move and get everything done that the needs to. But that doesn’t mean Louis is going to miss it, not like he’d want to, but someone has to be there to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Like with most things, if something were to go wrong, Louis is going to be the only person to know how to solve those problems.

The triceratops they’re transporting is brought to a small building near Gentle Giants so that visitors of the park can’t see what they’re doing. Not because it’s unethical, but because after doing this about three times, they figured out that the large crowds really only make matters worse.

“Wouldn’t you normally sedate an animal when doing something like this?” Zayn asks, frowning as he approaches Louis.

“What do you mean?” Louis asks, folding his arms over his chest as he watches Harry and Gwen gently coax the triceratops into the back of the van.

They’re using an old livestock transportation van; one that reminds Louis of a moving van, except the back has holes in the metal, spaces to allow air into the space for the dinosaurs. It’s fairly small, large enough to transport a smaller dinosaur or equipment, if necessary, but it wouldn’t be realistic for any of their larger dinosaurs. But compared to a smaller triceratops, the back is just big enough to fit her inside comfortably.

“I just mean, aren’t there better ways to move her? Won’t this cause like, trauma or something?”

Louis shrugs, because he’s actually not sure. “Harry thinks this method is better. If we were to sedate, then we’d have to wait, bring in more people to help load her inside, and then wait again for her to wake up, and when she does, she’s confused,” he explains. “This way though, she’s awake and not disoriented when we get there.”

It takes twenty minutes to get the triceratops in the back of the van. Harry sits next to her head, legs stretched out under her jaw as he talks to her, feeding her little pieces of food to keep her happy.

While Gwen rushes off for more food, Louis signals Liam and Zayn over, along with a few other workers that have volunteered to help with the process.

“Now that she’s in the back, we need to discuss what we’re going to do,” Louis says, looking between each of his employees. “Last time there were some issues, as some of you might recall, the dinosaur screamed the entire transport ride.”

“Yeah, think my ears are still recovering,” Marshall jokes, making a few others laugh.

“Harry, do you think this is going to work for her?”

“Trixie’s pretty tame, she’s not fazed by much. I think we’ll be fine if we just drive. Don’t stop, but keep it slow. I can’t remember who drove last time, but it was too fast. I think the speed just intensified everything. But like, not too slow, since we don’t want her in here that long,” Harry says, sighing. “But again, don’t go too fast. Just like…drive.”

Louis blinks, nodding. “Right,” he mumbles, turning away from Harry to look at Liam. “What do you think?”

Louis hates to admit that he values Liam’s opinion more than anyone else’s here, but he does. Liam is good at his job, and he knows how these dinosaurs are. His specialty might be the raptors, but he’s one of the few people out there that understands the dinosaurs’ behavior in ways that other people couldn’t even wish to do. He’s the best at his job, Louis thinks bitterly but factually.

“I think Harry’s right about not going too fast, I think we were hitting bumps too hard last time,” he says, eyes squinted as he stares at the animal in the back of the vehicle. “I’ve been thinking, what if Harry and I ride in the back with her? Someone familiar to her, but both of us know how to calm her down if something happens.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Gwen says, slipping through the group to crawl in the back. She hands Harry a bottle of water and a pail of food.

Louis looks to Harry, who nods and shrugs, as if to say, what could it hurt?

Well, it could hurt him for one thing, if she were to freak out entirely in the limited space of the back of the van. But with Liam in the back, there is the option to sedate her if things get rough for them. Louis’ not sure what to do, but when he looks back at Liam, he looks confident and sure, so Louis sighs, nodding in approval.

“Alright, load up,” he instructs. “Gwen, you take Marshall and Kyle in this with you. Make sure that you keep it slow, not too slow though, since we need to get through the crowds without them figuring out what we’re doing. Zayn and I will follow you in my car. Niall’s already waiting in his, he’ll lead the way, just to clear a path.”

“Got it, boss,” Gwen says, grinning at him as she moves to get inside the van while Marshall and Kyle close the door on the back once Liam crawls inside, waving towards Louis and Zayn as the door shuts.

“Alright, come on,” Louis says, moving quickly to get into his car and get it started. He flips on his flashers and waits to go.

They drive slowly through the park, Niall setting the pace until they’re on the access roads, the ones where they don’t have to worry about swarms of people wandering about on. Louis keeps his windows down and listens for any sounds of distress, but he doesn’t hear anything. There is the occasional grunt and whine, but nothing like the screams of the last dinosaur they had to move. Louis thinks that, at least at one point, he could hear Harry singing, loud notes that cut through the wind and drift in through his window. And if the smile on Zayn’s face is anything to go by, Louis isn’t alone in thinking that Harry’s the one singing to the dinosaur.

“What happens when we get there?” Zayn asks, just as they’re about halfway there.

“It depends, really. She’ll decide, depending on if she wants out of the van or not. Sometimes it takes a while to coax them out, others run out as soon as the door is open, bracing themselves for something,” Louis explains, tapping his thumb against the wheel of the car. Judging by how this triceratops went into the van, Louis doesn’t think they’ll have many problems getting her out. “After that we just help ease them into the herd. Triceratopses tend to be easy, though. We haven’t had a problem bringing a baby in before.”

“Seems like it should be harder,” Zayn mutters, breathing out. “How do you know when they’re ready to go?”

“That you’d have to ask Harry, because I have no clue. He’s the expert on these. He seems to have a knack for knowing when the smaller dinosaurs are getting ready to outgrow the petting zoo.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to ask him,” Zayn says wistfully, a faraway look on his face like he’s already imagining that conversation.

Louis bites his tongue against saying anything about it, about that look and about the past weekend. Not because he doesn’t want to butt his head in where it doesn’t belong, because they’re co-workers, Harry and Zayn, so Louis should be allowed, as their boss, to butt his head in if a workplace relationship is going to cause a problem for the park. Instead he bites his tongue because they’re pulling into Triceratops Territory, so he doesn’t have enough time to interrogate Zayn like he would’ve liked.

“So when we stop, what do we do?”

“Who?”

“You and I, what do we do?”

“We stand back, monitor to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Help when we can, if they ask.”

“So we’re just like, decoration?” Zayn asks, laughing when Louis nods. “Your job really does involve a lot of standing around and looking intimidating, doesn’t it?”

“That’s what they put on my paycheck,” Louis retorts, grinning as he rolls the car to a stop.

Liam and Harry are already out of the back of the van by the time Zayn and Louis catch up with them. The triceratops – Trixie, Harry reminds him with a glare – is halfway out of the back, sniffing around. She doesn’t seem to be putting up a fuss and Louis thinks that Harry was right in his assessment of her, in her calm temperament.

As Harry Hansel and Gretel’s the dinosaur out of the van, tossing bits of food down on the ground in a trail to lead her out into the open grass, Louis watches as Zayn approaches one of the older Triceratops cautiously. He keeps his hand out, much like one does when approaching a dog, wanting to let them know that they’re friendly, a fact they can prove if the dog sniffs their hand before they pet them.

The dinosaur doesn’t so much as blink at him, simply standing there and eating as Zayn runs his fingers down her frill and onto her cheek, curving his hand back up around her small horn. He laughs to himself, continuing to touch her as everyone else works.

“Why are you laughing?” Niall asks, coming up behind Louis, moving passed him to approach the dinosaur that Zayn’s touching.

“Growing up, I always thought these were mean.”

“Why?” Louis asks, frowning.

Zayn blushes and bites down on his lip, stepping back as the dinosaur lifts her head up, causing her to tower over them a bit more, her height much taller than theirs.

“Cera from Land Before Time was kind of rude to everyone, had a bit of an attitude problem, so I just thought…well, I figured they made her that way for a reason,” Zayn admits and Niall laughs, a loud cackling sound pouring out of his body. “I was young, alright? Cut me some slack.”

“In your dreams, Malik,” Louis says, unable to keep his own laughter contained.

“A children’s movie,” Niall wheezes, patting the triceratops on the side as one behind them starts making noises, huffing to herself. “Ah, don’t you get jealous. Let’s see, which one are you.” Niall walks around the dinosaur, rubbing his chin as he inspects her appearance, a slow smile spreading across his face as he rounds back to her front. “I remember you, Flora, don’t think I forgot.”

“You don’t know that’s her name,” Louis sighs, throwing his hands in the air because honestly. Honestly, there’s no way that Niall could be able to do that.

“I do so,” Niall defends. “Pretty girl like this, I’d never forget.”

Louis rolls his eyes in response, watching as Niall continues to flirt with the dinosaur, rubbing behind her frill as she makes soft noises before she starts munching on something on the ground. She reminds him of a cow, big and gentle, mostly unbothered by everything going on around her.

The little triceratops that they brought moves passed Louis, her tail slapping against his leg as she goes. And from what he can see, the older, bigger Triceratopses don’t seem to care that she’s there or that she’s new, as they continue to eat and move about like she’s not there.

“So now what happens?” Zayn asks, patting the baby dinosaur on the back.

“Now she joins the herd,” Louis says. “Luckily we just introduced another one a few weeks ago: Joey, the screamer we mentioned. They took well to her, so it seems she’s prepared them for this.”

“No, I mean, now what for us?”

“Oh. Well, for us, we don’t do much else. I know Liam and Harry will hang around for a bit longer, since they’ll want to monitor everything and make sure that everything really is fine,” Louis says, watching as Harry and Liam close up the back of the van, waving as the others leave them behind. “And I’m sure Niall will want to stay a while, since he’s a pest.”

“Do you think we could stay for a bit?” Zayn asks. “I kind of like being out here, getting to interact with some of these bigger ones.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. We can manage that.”

“It’s weird this is real, like…these are dinosaurs. And they’re living,” Zayn says, his voice amazed as he looks around. “I’m gonna go get Niall to take my pic with some of them. I want to send it home to my family, think my dad would really like it.”

Louis laughs and shakes his head, watching as Zayn rushes off, waving his phone in the air. Harry pats Louis on the back as he passes, shouting that he wants in the picture, which seems to make Zayn falter, tripping over his feet before he rights himself, nodding eagerly at Harry’s suggestion.

“So, are you going to tell me that I had a great idea, or what?”

Louis snorts, elbowing Liam in the ribs as he drapes an arm over Louis’ shoulders. “Or what. You got lucky, that’s all. And besides, I think Harry did something to that dinosaur. I’ve never seen one act that way.”

“Yeah, she’s a bit too mild. But I don’t know, driving in the back of a van with the wind blowing on you, while Harry serenades you could do that to anyone, I’d bet.”

“Do you think someone gave her a mild sedative?” Louis asks, tilting his head to the side so that he can look at Liam.

“No, I think Harry would throw a fit about that. And most people know that,” Liam says. “I think she’s just…how she is.”

“But she’s a—“

“A unique dinosaur,” Liam decides, cutting Louis off. “One day, you’re going to have to accept that these dinosaurs are different from the textbooks you read in school.”

“Yeah, they’re alive.”

“No, that they’re not vicious monsters. They’re like us, in a way. They have personalities, personalities that set them apart, no matter how many you find yourself with.”

Louis looks at him, eyes scanning over Liam’s face as Liam shrugs. There’s a stupid grin on his face, a smug one that makes it seem like he knows he’s right. And just because he’s a behavioral specialist, doesn’t mean that Louis has to listen to a damn thing he says.

“Get off me,” Louis mutters, shrugging Liam’s arm off his shoulder as Liam laughs.

><

Louis treats Zayn to lunch when they return to Main Street from Triceratops Territory after an hour of hanging around the dinosaurs and watching Niall make a fool of himself, as he tried to remember every single Triceratopses’ name.

Louis had found out how much he enjoyed watching them, sat in the grass and enjoying the warm rays of the sun surprised him. Liam had kept bothering him, which didn’t surprise him in the least. And as soon as Louis can find someone to do his job only better, Liam’s fired. It’s official. Or well, it will be, once Louis gets Simon no board with the plan.

The lunch is meant to be a cross between a gesture to let Zayn know that he appreciates him being around, for being, so far, an amazing new addition to the park, and also to discuss the rest of Zayn’s training, since he’s excelled in everything so far.

Part of Louis feels surprised that Zayn has taken everything in stride and surpassed every expectation that Louis has had for him. He almost wishes that he could change Zayn’s position to an assistant, since he likes having him around so much.

When Louis tells Zayn about the purpose of the lunch, he blushes, muttering a quiet thanks under his breath as he hides a smile, eyes cast downwards towards his tray of food.

“I appreciate you saying something,” Zayn says. “It’s a really great job, or what I’ve experienced so far is pretty great. I really like it here.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” says Louis, nodding a few times as he chews his food. “I think I might cut you out early, actually. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Really?” Zayn asks, eyes wide in excitement at the prospect of being able to get started on his actual job sooner rather than later.

“Absolutely. You’ve been following me for over a week, but you’re doing really well. I haven’t noticed any causes of concern, like if you’ll run out on us or something,” he laughs, even though it’s true. Zayn’s one of the few that is meant for this line of work, one of the few that Louis thinks can make it here. “It wouldn’t be completely, though. But you’re doing so well, I think that it might actually help you if you hang out more with people who you’ll actually be working with, to learn from them.”

“Absolutely, yeah. I’d love that.”

“There’s a woman named Caroline that you’ll be working with most often, so I think I’ll give her a call this evening, talk to her about getting that started,” Louis mutters, nodding to himself as he makes a mental note to actually remember to do that. “I think that you’ll find working with her and following her around might help you yield a better understand of your specific job, since with me you’re mostly learning about the park in general.”

Zayn wipes his face with a napkin, the smile on his face unbreakable. “I can’t wait, honestly. I feel like I’ve already got a lot of ideas going just from this last week with you, so I can’t wait to do more.”

“Well, I’ll come up with a new schedule for you and email you tonight with it. Just something to let you know where you’ll be each day from here on out,” Louis explains. “I’ll also cc you and Caroline in an email so that you can figure out where to meet tomorrow.”

“Awesome, thanks, man,” Zayn sighs, resting his elbows on the table. “Honestly, I think I’ll miss running around the park with you all the time. I had a lot more fun than I thought. And I got to meet a lot of great people.”

“Yeah,” Louis mutters, clearing his throat as he wipes at his mouth. He sets his fork down and figures that now is as good a time as any to talk to Zayn about some of those people that he’s met, more specifically about a certain short shorts wearing, petting zoo employee that he goes all moon-eyed over. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, yeah. What’s up?”

“What’s going on with you and Harry? Is there something there…or?”

“I don’t know—um,” Zayn clears his throat, brows pulled together as he does his best to look confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Louis snorts at that because yeah, he’s not an idiot, nor is he blind. “Zayn, it’s kind of obvious.”

Zayn winces at that, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. But instead of admitting what’s going on, he sits up straighter, squaring his shoulders as he looks at Louis defiantly. “All right, fair enough. But if we’re confessing things, what’s going on with you and Liam?”

“Nothing is going on with Liam and I. And I don’t even understand why you would ever ask me that question.”

This time Zayn snorts, grabbing his drink off the table. “Well then, if nothing is going on with you two, then nothing is going on with me and Harry.”

“Do you want there to be?” Zayn shrugs at that, staring down at the table instead of looking at Louis. “Right, we’re doing the bashful, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ approach. That’s cool. But uh, as someone not offering you advice in that situation, since there’s nothing going on, I would say that you should, you know, try asking him out instead of just gawking from a distance.”

“I don’t—“

“That’s just advice I would give if something were going on, if you were interested in Harry,” Louis cuts in, “but since that’s not the case, I won’t say anything more on the subject. I’ll just tell you that I have a conference call with a potential investor, so you can take the rest of the day off.”

“Right, well. Thanks for the unsolicited advice.”

“I could give it to some of his other admirers.”

“He has admirers?”

“He’s Harry Styles, have you seen him?”

Zayn sighs at that, dropping his fork down on his plate. He keeps his gaze down but there’s no mistaking the small frown on his face, one that makes Louis smirk, because that frown tells Louis everything that he needs to know about that.

><

Louis office is big, two walls of solid glass that allow him to peek out at the island whenever he pleases. There’s another wall with rows of shelves, all lined with books and binders filled with important information that could need to be accessed at any time of day. His desk is large, with sleek black legs and a glass top that is surprisingly organized, given what a disaster most of his other spaces are. He has a large computer in one corner, then a lamp and stack of files on the other, along with a phone that he wished he knew how to silence.

There’s not much about it that really feels like him, that makes him feel like this office is actually his, aside from the small frame he keeps to the left of his computer with a picture of his family inside. On days like today, where Louis is tired and feeling rundown, answering emails and approving pay stubs, he finds that picture of his family to be the only sense of relief, the only thing that reminds him to breathe.

He’s finished Zayn’s new schedule, forgetting to write it up the night before when he sent them both the email so they could arrange a meet up. He thinks that within the next week or two, as long as Caroline is on the same page as him, that Zayn can be out on his own. He’s even set up a meeting between Zayn and Simon, something to help get him started.

And with all of that finished, Louis sits back in his fancy chair, leaning back as far as it’ll allow him. He takes a deep breath, counting backwards from ten before he rolls over towards the window.

Louis is happy that his time outside today has been limited. He can see from his office window how hot it is outside, the wet, sticky air creating mirage waves along the ground. He can see tourists and employees alike fanning themselves, but it doesn’t stop them. Nothing could stop them. Well, there is one thing, but Louis doesn’t like to think about that.

Call him superstitious, but Louis believes thinking about _that,_ imagining it happening can only make it a possibility. And that’s not something he wants for this park. He’s worked too hard to make sure that they don’t suffer the same fate as those before them. And that doesn’t mean it can’t happen, it just means that Louis will do everything in his power to stop it.

On the other side of the room, Louis’ phone rings, the sharp sound making him jump as they penetrate the quiet environment of his office. He rolls his chair towards it and frowns when he sees that it’s the standard line at the Velociraptor Paddock calling him.

“Yeah?” Louis answers, wincing when he hears the yelling in the background.

“Louis, we’re going to need you to come down here.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, just following orders,” the girl on the phone says and then she’s hanging up, ending the call before Louis can get any more information out of her. He sighs as he shoves his phone in his pocket, standing up from his chair.

Honestly, the world would fall apart without Louis around, he’s sure of it. He’s almost tempted to test the theory, to stay right here in his office and see how long before they call him again to come fix their problems for them, because clearly, no one at the park knows how to function unless he’s there holding everyone’s hand. And all right, slight exaggeration on his part, but still. One day without a disaster. Just one, that’s all he’s asking for.

><

Louis can hear angry shouts wafting into the open windows of his car as he approaches the Raptor Paddock. There’s a large crowd of people outside the large, steel structure. Louis can’t make out what’s being said, but he can see that it is Liam doing the yelling, another man by the name of Greg holding him back. He’s taller than Liam, almost towering over him, but Liam’s doing a good job of shoving him away so that he can get to someone else.

Louis stops his car and slams the gearshift into park, practically ripping the keys out of the ignition as he stumbles out of his car. He looks around wildly, moving swiftly in the direction of the argument, trying to figure out what’s going on.

Liam’s shouting is so erratic that Louis can only make out certain phrases like, ‘could have gotten yourself killed’, ‘dangerous’, ‘fucking moron’, and something that sounds an awful lot like a threat. Louis feels stunned watching it, because he’s never seen Liam this way. His skin is red, his cheeks flushed in anger with balled fists at his sides when he’s not shoving Greg away from him. The energy rolling off of him is so raw, so aggressive that the hairs on Louis’ arms start to stand on end, like he’s the one being scolded by Liam’s harsh words.

Unable to take it any longer, Louis shouts, “What is going on?”

Liam breathes out harshly at the sound of Louis’ voice, blinking as he takes a step back away from Greg, like the sound has brought him back down to Earth. He wets his lips and looks at Louis briefly before he addresses the group, “Wait here,” he says before he motions for Louis to follow him.

Louis does, albeit a bit hesitantly as he looks around, waiting for someone to step in and save him. He could take Liam…probably…if he really had to. Sure he could. Maybe. But Louis doesn’t think that today is that kind of day, with Liam running on such raw emotions.

Liam grabs Louis’ arm and tugs him inside of a smaller building attached to the paddock. The raptors are inside of it, situated in little rooms with their faces looking into the larger room that he and Liam are in. They’re locked up in steel muzzles, an act that Louis knows they use here for bonding and helping the raptors get to know the people that work here. It gives the dinosaurs time to recognize voices and scents of those that they’re supposed to trust. One of them breathes out harshly at Louis, glaring at him with sharp green eyes.

Louis stares at the dinosaur intently, watching it carefully before he drags his gaze over towards Liam. “What’s going on?” He asks, watching as Liam paces the room, rubbing harshly at the hair along his chin.

“Calvin happened.”

“Calvin?”

“Yes, Calvin. He seems to think that he’s more of a professional than what he really is. We almost had an incident because of him.”

“What’s an incident?” Louis asks, watching as the other raptors begin huffing, moving around in their restraints.

Liam shoots him a look, one that makes Louis frown. He hasn’t done anything.

“He tried going inside of the paddock, not this one, but the main one. The one where the raptors are allowed to run free.”

“Oh,” Louis mumbles, scratching his arm nervously. “Can you tell me more about what happened? Like, what do you want me to do about it?”

“I was taking care of the babies,” Liam starts, voice low and eyes squinted as he talks. “And when I get back here, I see that fucking idiot trying to get inside of the enclosure. Do you understand what that can do for these dinosaurs? If we have an incident, it’ll set them back. I don’t need to have them set back when we’re getting ready to introduce more.”

Liam’s voice gets louder the longer that he talks about it, taking on a bitter and aggressive edge to it. And the worse it gets, the more the raptors start to react. Louis can hear them clawing at the wall, huffing and making tiny noises that sound like growls as they feed off Liam’s voice, off his emotions, off the energy that he’s giving the room.

Louis blinks and zones out, watching the dinosaurs instead of paying attention as Liam rants, saying how Calvin could have gotten himself killed, thinking that he’s important enough to crawl inside the paddock.

But Louis barely hears it over the ringing in his ears. Because he’s trapped in a tiny room with dangerous dinosaurs, ones that have absolutely no connection to him and won’t listen to a single thing he says if he were somehow able to break free.

“Liam, you need to calm down,” Louis says, staring wide-eyed at the raptor that’s been glaring at him since he walked in the door. “How many violations has Calvin had?”

“This would be his second. The first one was dumb, and I’d have probably not even counted it as a violation if this one wasn’t so serious. Louis, this is important.”

“Okay,” Louis says, nodding a few times. “So what do you want to do with him?”

Liam breathes out, finally ceasing his pacing to look at Louis. He looks like he’s ready to say something, ready to go off on another tangent but the dinosaur that’s been giving Louis the shit eye snaps, shifting her head around and making an awful snarling sound that makes Louis jump.

He stumbles back, pressing a hand to his chest and trying to put as much distance between himself and the raptors as he can. It’s difficult, since they’re all around the room and giving him nowhere to go, making him feel trapped.

“Hey, no. You’re fine,” Liam assures him, stepping forward, pressing his hand against the cheek of the raptor. “You’re all right, Blue.” He’ stroking her cheek, knuckles dragging gently against her cheek. Louis watches from a safe distance, no longer comfortable in the tiny room. “Come over here.”

“No, I think I’m good, thanks.”

Liam laughs, shaking his head as he holds a hand out for Louis. “Come here. Come pet her, just touch her. You’ll be all right.”

“I’m all right over here.”

“Louis, you have to come over here.”

“No, I do not.”

Liam raises an eyebrow and there’s something challenging about it, almost like a dare. Louis glares at him, raising his chin defiantly as he takes a step forward. He ignores Liam’s hand, shoving it out of his way as he approaches Blue. He steps on the other side, opposite of Liam and breathes out slowly.

It’s not that he’s scared of the dinosaur. It’s just that…well, all right. He’s a little scared about what’s going to happen. It’s obvious that the raptors have been feeding off of Liam’s emotions and the only source that they can see is Louis, so it makes sense that they’d be hesitant about him, angry at him for making Liam feel that way. Only, it wasn’t Louis that did that. But maybe this will let her know that he’s good, that they don’t have anything to worry about with him.

Reaching out slowly, Louis touches Blue, his fingers against her scales. He releases a shaky breath as he moves his hand, gently dragging them downwards in a short petting motion. Blue seems to jump at the touch, huffing at him and jerking a bit in her harness. But she doesn’t do much else, so Louis thinks that’s a sign she’s reacting well to him, so he takes the opportunity to run his fingers along her cheek, touching her in the same way that he watched Liam do it, soft and sure.

It feels like some kind of personal growth to be petting the raptor like he is. Louis can’t remember the last time he touched one of the dinosaurs when it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Maybe not even then, he really can’t remember the last time he felt the slide of their skin against his, the rough texture that makes his hands itch and tickle, as they glide along the sensitive nerves under his skin.

Liam smiles at him when he looks up, his gaze soft and pleased, so unlike the wild that Louis saw not that long ago. He wonders if Liam looks that way because he got Louis to mess with the dinosaurs, something he’s been trying to do for ages. Or if that’s just what the dinosaurs do for him. If they bring Liam back down, if they trap back him in reality and force him to breathe, to think instead of acting on whatever was driving him a moment ago. Anger, maybe. Louis’ not sure what it was, all he knows is that it was intense, the most intense that he’s ever seen Liam. Part of him had been scared, unsure about what to do with it all, because there was carefree Liam, always happy and content, tipped over the edge into something that’s not meant to be him, angry and untamed.

And as much as Louis doesn’t care, as much as Liam getting angry isn’t any of his concern, he does hope that he doesn’t have to see it again. It does something to him, sets off an odd sort of twist in his gut to know that Liam is that angry. And maybe it’s not Liam, necessarily, maybe it is knowing anyone is that upset that they’d scream and pace and turn red. Louis’ a good person, he likes to think, so this is obviously the most logical of reasons, since he doesn’t care about making Liam angry when he’s the one doing it.

Who knows. All Louis knows is that he didn’t like it, but that could change. Maybe he’ll laugh about this whole thing later tonight when he’s alone in his apartment. Maybe. Probably not, but maybe.

“You know she’s the only one to have survived the other park?” Liam asks, cutting into Louis’ thoughts.

Louis nods, because he does know that. He remembers when she was the only one, the only raptor and so unruly and angry, having to deal with a brand new set of people. But it’s worked out with Liam around, with Liam there to bring her back to what she was, still a little unruly but a lot less angry.

“I remember,” he says, dragging his fingers along the blue stripe that starts at her eyes and goes down the length of her body. He touches where he can, listening to the tiny noises coming from her throat, and wondering if they’re good noises.

“Sometimes things are hard for Blue. Everything is new for her. These other raptors, she doesn’t know them the way she knew her siblings that died,” Liam explains, staring down at the dinosaur instead of at Louis as he talks. “And the same goes for me, I’m not Owen Grady. And none of those people outside, they’re not anyone she remembers or knows.”

“Are you trying to tell me something?” Louis asks, confused.

Liam shakes his head, breathing out a heavy sigh. “I’m just saying that it took ages to gain her trust. Getting Blue to see me the same way that she saw Owen and his team. She’s not like the younger dinosaurs. They’re easier, so much easier since I get to work with them from birth. I didn’t have that luxury with her.”

“I know that, Liam. I’ve—“ Louis sighs, because he can’t say what he wants to say, that he’s seen the change in her, because he has, but only slightly. “I’ve read your reports,” he says instead, because everything he knows is on paper. That’s how he likes it, that’s how he’s made it.

“Yeah, well,” Liam swallows, wetting his lips. “If my crew are going to try and fuck up the progress I’ve made by tormenting the dinosaurs, then it’s going to unravel everything that I’ve done here.”

Louis nods, because he gets it now, Liam’s little tangent. “You’re talking about Calvin.”

“Yeah, I’m talking about Calvin.”

“Right. Okay. So, what do you want me to do about him?”

“I want him suspended. One week with no pay. I know there are protocols about this, like verbal warnings and writing them up. But this isn’t a fucking desk job, Louis. He needs to see that this isn’t the kind of job where you can just…fuck around and threaten, not only your life, but everyone else’s life.”

“Fair enough. That’s fine, whatever you want. Anything you want and I’ll agree with it.”

Liam nods and pats the top of Blue’s head, satisfied to know that Louis agrees with his punishment for Calvin. And normally Louis wouldn’t agree to force someone not to be paid, but if Liam is telling the truth and people’s lives were at risk, then he can make an exception to his rules for that.

With the suspension approved, Louis reminds Liam that he’ll be the one filling out the paperwork on that, a reminder that makes Liam laugh, his body relaxing as he does it.

><

Liam drags Louis to lunch at the steakhouse on Main Street. It’s definitely not his favorite idea, proven by how he drags his feet while Liam drags him, whining about how he has real things to do and he made himself a sandwich to eat in his office. All of his whining goes ignored by Liam, who simply tightens his grip on Louis’ wrist as he tugs him through the crowd.

Even Louis pinching him on the ribs, tweaking his nipples, and tugging at the hairs on his arms don’t seem to disturb Liam. Instead he swats Louis’ hands away, wrapping both of his wrists in his grip and scolding him like a toddler. Or he’ll fight back, slapping Louis’ hand out of the way and reaching out with a sneaky hand to tweak Louis’ nipple before Louis can get his. Or, even more infuriating, Liam ignores Louis’ antics altogether..

Some holier than thou complex he has, pretending not to care that he’s being tortured in a public setting as they wait for their table. Louis isn’t dumb. He knows that Liam’s not as great as everyone thinks he is, so he pinches his nipple harder as Christine, the hostess at the steakhouse, grabs a couple menus and tells them to follow her.

“Will you cut it out?” Liam laughs, rubbing at his chest. He’s smiling, the dumb one where his eyes are almost closed. Louis hopes he trips.

“I have work to do, Liam. I don’t have time to eat an actual meal.”

“Your work will still be there when you’re finished,” Liam reasons, pushing Louis towards a chair and thanking Christine. “And you work too much. And also, I’m trying to be generous since I yelled at you for a while.”

“Ah,” Louis hums. “A guilt lunch.”

“It’s not a guilt lunch.”

“It is, actually. And if you’re feeling guilty, shouldn’t you take out everyone at the raptor paddock?”

“No, because they’ve all been assigned boring jobs this afternoon, like cleaning the paddock and scrubbing the floors and preparing new food,” Liam states with a merciless smile, like he’s proud of himself for coming up with that.

“You know, you’re kind of a dick sometimes.”

Liam laughs, a loud noise that startles Louis as Liam’s eyes wrinkle shut once more. Louis wonders if there’s something wrong with his eyes or if his body just reacts to happiness by trying to force itself to go to sleep. Liam hasn’t fallen asleep yet, though, so Louis’ theory isn’t the greatest, but it’s the only one he’s come up with to explain why Liam’s eyes always close when he’s happy.

It’s the strangest thing to witness, a grown man who can’t keep his eyes open, but it makes Louis laugh, and damn Liam Payne for being contagious in that way right now.

When their waiter arrives, they both order sodas and stammer out apologizes because neither of them has actually opened their menus. Louis has only been to the steakhouse a few times, so he doesn't have a favorite like he does at the diner with their amazing blue cheese burgers.

As they’re scanning over the menus, talking about which food sounds good and what doesn’t, Christine approaches their table once more. Louis looks up at her in confusion, frowning and wondering what it is she wants until someone slaps him on the shoulder, squeezing by him and dropping down in the chair next to him.

“Hope we’re not interrupting,” Niall greets them, wiggling passed Liam to take the seat next to him. “Saw you both through the window, figured you’d want the company.”

“I told him not to interrupt,” Harry says, pulling up a chair and sitting where Christine was just standing.

To Louis’ left is Zayn, who mouths a sorry before he opens his own menu and starts looking.

“Glad we got you before you ordered though,” Harry adds. “At least that makes this less awkward.”

“Lunch is on Liam,” Louis announces, smiling wickedly at Liam before he drops his gaze back down to the menu. “Order the most expensive thing that you can, since he’s being so generous this afternoon.”

“Right on ya, Payne,” Niall cheers, grinning at him.

“I was actually just treating Louis, but yeah. All right. Order whatever you want.”

“Oh we will,” Zayn says. “Food is always better when it’s free, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha,” Liam mutters, sighing as he closes his menu. He kicks Louis’ ankle under the table and Louis laughs, pulling his feet away from him. He looks up at him and sticks out his tongue when no one is looking, because that’ll teach him not to listen to Louis.

It takes five minutes for everyone to figure out what they want, rattling off their orders to their waiter – the other three getting drinks as well – before they settle into quiet little chatter. Harry’s got his phone out, as per usual, texting someone. And it’s a nice lunch, much better than the one Louis was going to have alone in his office, he can begrudgingly admit.

“So, Liam,” Niall starts, getting the attention of everyone at the table, “Word on the street is that you have pissed Calvin off very much.”

Liam nods, shrugging. “Word on the street should be that Calvin is an idiot who shouldn’t have a job here.”

“You hired him,” Louis reminds him, because it’s true, Liam gets to pick the people on his team.

“Yes, I did. And I’m realizing my mistake,” Liam mumbles. “But he has one more strike before you find me in your office demanding that you fire him.”

Louis raises his glass at him and says, “fair enough,” before Niall and Harry start asking the details about what happened, wanting to know the park gossip. Louis sighs and tunes them out since he already knows it all, choosing instead to turn towards Zayn and start his own conversation. “So, Zayn. Did you get the schedule that I emailed you?”

“Yeah, I got it. I’m excited about it, thanks.”

“No problem, sorry it wasn’t in sooner.”

“No, it’s all right.”

“Cool, cool. So tell me, how is it working with Caroline? Do you like her?”

“Oh god,” Zayn groans, smiling excitedly. “It’s amazing. She’s so great. Honestly, one of the nicest people here. And we get along so well, like brilliantly. I was a bit worried about it, since she seemed so professional in our emails. But she’s amazing.”

“Yeah, Caroline is great. Have you met her daughter yet?”

“No, not yet. But she showed me pictures. It was one of the first things she did.”

“Yeah, she loves that little girl.”

Zayn nods, the grin still on his face, and if possible, it’s wider than it was a moment ago. Louis smiles at that, happy to know that Zayn’s having such a great time with this transition. And also, Louis has to give himself an imaginary pat on the back for the best hire in a long time.

“We’re already coming up with a bunch of new ideas for the park and stuff,” Zayn tells him. “We’re thinking about redoing the website, making it more interactive. It’ll allow people at home, those who can’t visit the park for whatever reason, to get a little taste of it, you know?”

“Really? That sounds incredible.”

“Yeah, we were thinking about like, instead of just providing facts, we could maybe show off the facilities that the park has. Tourists don’t really get to see everything, so if we put some exclusive content on the website, then it could generate more interest in the park itself, which in turn could bring in more visitors,” Zayn explains, pausing to take a deep breath. “Like videos of the raptors, some stuff in the creation lab. We also thought that like, showing off the baby dinosaurs would be good. I know zoos like to announce the births and open polls up for people to name them.”

Louis doesn’t say anything about the naming of the dinosaurs, instead he nods along as Zayn continues to rattle off ideas that they’ve had for the website. All of them sound good, a digital rebranding of sorts, to help generate more revenue by doing something as simple as this to attract people. It would all be pretty vague, just enough to give people a taste and make them want more, nothing too revealing about the park, but something to show them what they’re missing by not coming. He even mentions throwing a map of the park on the site, something to tell them about each location and what the sites offer.

It all sounds good, the website renovations and the new ideas for some of the park attractions. Zayn tells him how Caroline and some of the other workers have been trying to come up with new attractions, new places for the tourists to go on the island, but haven’t come up with anything concrete. Louis thinks that, judging by the little spark in Zayn’s eyes, that he’s going to be the one who turns their ideas into a reality.

“I know that I’m probably not the person to be saying this,” Harry says, cutting Zayn off in the middle of his rant about his day, “but it sounds like you’re really going to be incredible at your job.”

“Thanks,” Zayn mumbles, his cheeks pinking as he smiles.

“I’m being serious,” Harry exclaims, laughing like he doesn’t think Zayn believes him. “Really. So far no one has been able to do what you’re doing, none of them ever talked about the job like that, and it sounds like you’re already so great at it, just in your passion for it. Or, I don’t know. It just seems that way, I guess.”

“No, uh,” Zayn clears his throat, smiling. “Thanks. Uh, yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Harry assures him, flashing Zayn a wide grin before he checks back into Liam and Niall’s conversation, the one that is still talking about how awful Calvin is.

Louis waits until Harry’s attention is fully drawn away before he nudges Zayn with his elbow. He turns to look at him expectantly, wanting to know what Louis wants, Louis simply wiggles his eyebrows at him, shifting his eyes quickly in Harry’s direction so Zayn knows what he’s silently talking about. Zayn simply shrugs at the gesture, a silent admittance to what Louis has been teasing him about. Well, not teasing, but…he has known that Zayn has feelings for Harry since that first encounter at Gentle Giants. But even still, Louis can’t help the fact that his mouth drops open. He had thought Zayn would deny it like always, wanting to hide the truth and to keep Louis guessing.

Zayn nudges him in the leg under the table, pulling a face that tells Louis to knock it off. He closes his mouth and nudges him back, hoping that Zayn can read into that as a silent good job.

Louis wishes they were alone so that he could find out more information about it, if Zayn’s been talking to Harry or if they’ve had any alone time since that he hasn’t been telling Louis about. But he can’t talk to him about it now, not at lunch when there are other people surrounding them. Mostly because of Harry being here, his stupid hat tipped back as he drains his water, the straw never leaving his mouth as he watches Niall and Liam talk.

Louis feels something nudge against his legs under the table but finds that Zayn is too busy going through his phone to have done it. Frowning, he looks around, finding the source of the nudge when he sees Liam smirking at him from across the table, getting his attention as their waiter arrives. Louis makes a face at him, wrinkling his nose as a plate of delicious smelling fried chicken is set down in front of him.

“So, what’s everyone doing this weekend?” Niall asks, after nearly ten minutes of silence, everyone too immersed in their food to talk about anything.

Louis shrugs in response, not wanting to say that he’s going to do the same thing he does every weekend, nothing.

“I have something going on Friday, but other than that, I’m not doing much of anything,” Harry says.

“I have a couple dates with some baby raptors, but that’s it,” Liam adds.

Zayn shakes his head, shrugging. “Was gonna work on some stuff for the website, but yeah. That’s it.”

“Right, good. So that means you’re all free to get together?” Niall asks, looking around expectantly, brow raised as he looks at everyone, as if daring any of them to come up with secret plans to get out of it now that they’ve all admitted to being available whenever. “We don’t have to do it at my place, we can go somewhere else. Cycle through all of our places.”

“I’m still unpacking, so it can’t be at mine.”

“I’m sure you are, Zayn. Liam?”

“Um…I guess.”

“We can have it mine,” Harry interjects. “Been awhile since I had people over, but I just got a bunch of food so I’m stocked up. It’ll be nice to play host for a night.”

“So that settles it,” Niall decides, clapping his hands together. “We’re going to Harry’s on Saturday, is that cool with everyone?”

“Um, yeah. I guess,” Louis mumbles, shrugging when Niall looks at him.

Liam smirks from across the table, leaning back in his seat. “I’ll be there.”

“In that case, no. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it,” Louis says mock-sadly, frowning as everyone at the table laughs.

“Tough shit, Tommo,” Niall expresses in amusement. “I’m going to hack into your computer and put it on your calendar. Might even hack into your phone so you’ll get a reminder every hour on Saturday.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I can so,” Niall defends. “Don’t doubt the things I can do, Tomlinson.”

“All right fine,” Louis laughs, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’ll go under one condition.”

“What’s your condition?” Liam asks.

“That if we watch a movie, it has to be one where you’re not completely and utterly wrong about everything.”

“Oh god,” Liam groans, rolling his eyes. “You really don’t know how to let things go.”

“You’re right, I don’t, especially when other people are wrong and insist that they’re right.”

“How about we just don’t watch a movie at all?” Niall suggests.

“Sounds good to me,” Harry mumbles.

Zayn snorts in amusement, elbowing Louis gently in the arm. “Yeah, maybe then you two will cut out the married couple routine.”

Louis glares at him, kicking him in the ankle. If he can’t mention whatever is happening between him and Harry, then Zayn can’t mention anything about him and Liam. Not like the situations are the same, because they’re obviously not.

Neither Liam or Louis has feelings for the other nor are they…acting like a married couple. Liam’s wrong, and Louis is going to tell him that he’s wrong. That’s not something only married couples do.

Zayn laughs at him as Louis’ narrows his eyes, so he kicks him once more for good measure.

><

“Hear me out, but I think this has more to do with that dinosaur trying to fuck with you.”

“That dinosaur has a name, please use it.”

“Fine. I think this Pachy is destroying the arena because of reasons that don’t revolve around trying to fuck with you.”

Niall stares at Louis from his place on the ground in distaste, not bothering to hide his annoyance at Louis’ refusal to use the name that Niall’s picked out for the Pachy in question. Louis smirks at him in reply, wiping a bit of sweat off his brow.

“Well, whatever reason you think she’s doing this, you care to explain it with the rest of us?” Niall asks, pulling more loose stone out of the wall of the Pachy Arena.

The area in need of repair has been roped off, a futile attempt to keep the dinosaurs away while they work. It hadn’t been too much of a surprise to Louis when he got a call that a Pachycephalosaurus has caused structural damage to the arena, in fact when he got the call, he knew exactly which dinosaur to glare at when he and Niall came to check what was going on. And true to form, the dinosaur hadn’t even bothered to look guilty; instead she sniffed at them, huffing as Niall told her that he was going to get even for that.

“I don’t know why she would do this,” Louis sighs. “I’m just saying, it’s more than just because she likes to mess with you.”

“No, she loves to mess with us. It’s like she knows when I’m lacking on work, thinks it’s her job to find me something to do.”

“That’s my job, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, well. Bet you and these dinosaurs are working together, plotting against me,” Niall mumbles, shifting with a huff so that he’s sitting properly on the ground, his back resting against the wall. “You’d think she’d get tired of slamming her head into the wall.”

“It’s part of who she is as a dinosaur, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but there’s plenty of other things in here she can head butt. How about that tree, or another dinosaur, even. The others do it all the time.”

“I don’t know. Think we should get Liam in here to figure it out?”

“Nah, think we just need to advance the construction on the new wall. I’ve been a bit lazy about it, but I think once we get that going we won’t have to be down here to repair so often. It’ll be harder for the entire wall to crumble, but easier for us when it does come time to repair,” Niall explains, pulling a water bottle out of his bag and taking a few pulls from it. “Unless you think Liam can do something that we can’t.”

“I have no idea what Liam can do,” Louis says, shaking his head when Niall holds out the water bottle. “All I know is that, that dinosaur is going to be the death of me. One day she’s going to break out of this arena, and while I know that she won’t cause much structural damage, she’ll terrify guests.”

“Ethel’s a good girl. I don’t think she wants free.”

“I’m sure they all want free.”

“Maybe, but so far none of them have gotten out, so we must be doing something right. And even still, she’s nice. She’ll bump her head into something and won’t pay any attention to the tourists.”

“They’ll pay attention to her,” Louis retorts, making Niall laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” mumbles Niall, shrugging. “You worry a lot.”

“This is an actual thing to worry about, Niall.”

“Maybe, but you worry about more than just a Pachy getting loose.” Louis snorts at that, because he hasn’t worried about anything else in front of Niall today, so he has no reason to say anything like that. “You can fold your arms over your chest like a diva all you want, but you know I’m right. I can see it in your face when you’re worried. You worry about more than what you let on.”

“Right. So what have I been worried about lately?”

“Going to Harry’s this weekend,” Niall says with a smile, making Louis swallow. “You going to deny it?”

Louis shrugs, kicking at some of the dirt on the ground, laughing when it gets on Niall’s pants. Good, he thinks, nodding in satisfaction. “I was worried about having to deal with Liam being wrong all night,” Louis lies, or kind of lies. He really would rather not listen to Liam degrade an amazing person slash superhero again.

“Right, I’ll pretend to believe that,” Niall laughs, groaning when he pulls himself into a stand. “You’ve got until Saturday make your worry believable since Harry and Zayn are going out on Friday, so work on it, all right?”

“Whatever,” Louis mutters. “Wait. Zayn is Harry’s Friday plans?”

“Yeah, heard them talking about it before I met up with them before lunch.”

“Is it like…a date?”

“Think so. I don’t think Zayn would ask Harry to do something and not make it a date.”

“So, you knew about that? About his…feelings?”

Niall snorts. “Zayn’s been a little more than obvious about that.”

“Yeah,” Louis breathes out, frowning. “I just hope he’s not too crushed when he figures out Harry is more of a casual kind of guy.”

“I don’t know, I think Harry could settle down if he found the right person,” Niall reasons.

“You think Zayn is that person?”

“I never said that. I just said that I think he could.”

“Well, we’ll find out on Saturday then, won’t we?”

Niall nods. “Yeah, guess we will. I’ll bring the liquor,” he says, making Louis laugh.

><

By the end of the day, Louis is exhausted. Another snowballing day, where one thing after another went wrong, despite the quiet morning he started off with. But now that the day is over, Louis plans on going home and doing absolutely nothing. He needs to email his mom back, maybe skype her if she’s still awake. Then maybe he’ll take a bath, or lie on the couch with a bucket of pasta on his lap, finding whatever trash program he can on television so that he can shout at people for making bad choices.

God, it sounds like a dream. A far off, distant dream that keeps getting further and further away, if Liam leaning against Louis’ car is anything to go by. He’s staring down at his phone, one leg pulled up and one hand resting in his belt loop. He looks tired and sweaty, blinking heavily at his phone.

“Can I help you?” Louis asks, stepping around Liam to unlock his door. He throws his stuff inside, leaning back against the open door to look at the other boy.

“I need a ride home,” Liam says and Louis’ frowns, waving his hand as if to say, and? “And I need a ride home.”

“Okay, so go find someone to give you a ride.”

“All right,” Liam mutters, pushing off the car. “I found you.”

“No, find someone else.”

“I would, but you have the nicest car and I’m already here,” Liam says, shrugging unapologetically. “Please, Louis?”

Louis sighs, rolling his eyes and folding his arms over his chest. “You realize your house is completely out of my way?”

“Yeah, I do. So, now can you take me home?”

“Whatever, fine,” Louis groans, uncrossing his arms to wave his hands wildly towards his car, motioning for Liam to just get in already.

Liam grins at him, rushing around to the other side as Louis crawls in. He grabs his things and throws them in back to give Liam more room, if he doesn’t throw them, he’s sure that Liam will. Liam fiddles around with the radio as Louis puts the car into motion, slowly rolling out of his parking spot and moving out of the lot in the direction of Liam’s house. He’s trying to figure out the shortest route possible when Liam turns the radio off, sighing and rolling down his window.

“Make yourself at home, please,” Louis mutters bitterly, realizing that there is no quick way to get to the other side of the island, just routes that go in different directions, mere minutes difference between one and another. “I can turn the air on, if you’re hot.”

“I’ll be all right.”

“Right, well then,” Louis mumbles, rolling down his own window so the hot, sticky air of the evening can blow in and circulate around the car. “Where’s your car?”

“I rode the monorail in.”

“And how did you get to the monorail?”

Liam turns towards him and grins, with his eyes rimmed red from exhaustion and a long day. “I ran there.”

“You ran from your house to the monorail?”

“Yeah, it was nice.”

“You’re out of your mind. That’s like… Liam, that’s super far away.”

“It’s not so bad, actually.”

Louis snorts. “Right, well. I think we’ve established that you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh god,” Liam groans, shaking his head as he looks up at the roof of the car. “Is this about the movie we watched at Niall’s?”

“No, this is about you running from your place to the monorail. But sure, now that you’ve brought that up, there’s another example of why you can’t be trusted.”

“Well, I’d say the same about you, but from what I hear, you’re the one who convinced Zayn to finally ask Harry out. So, I’d guess you get lucky sometimes.”

“Does everyone know about that?”

“Well, Niall knows, so… I’d reckon a few people knew,” Liam jokes, laughing at himself. “No, Harry mentioned it to me. He said that Zayn asked him to dinner.”

“Right… Wait, how did you know that Zayn was into him?”

“It’s obvious.”

“Yeah, that’s what Niall said this afternoon.”

“Well, if we all knew, then I’m sure Harry did,” Liam reasons. “I’m just surprised that you were the one who said something, since you’re so against dating.”

“What?” Louis asks in confusion, pulling a face. “I’m not against dating.”

“You kind of are, but okay.”

Louis breathes out harshly through his nose, gripping tightly to the steering wheel. He knows what Liam is trying to do and he’s not going to fall for it. They had a good day, for them anyway. And he’s not going to ruin it by falling into this stupid, childish trap that Liam has set out for him. He breathes in slowly, counting backwards from ten before he addresses Liam, wanting to calm down completely.

“Why do you do that?” Louis asks, chancing a glance towards Liam, who frowns at him.

“Do what?”

“Try to start arguments with me,” Louis explains. “And most especially, ones that you know you’re going to lose. Why do you enjoy embarrassing yourself that way?”

Liam looks at him for a moment, bushy brows pulled together in confusion before he laughs, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to start an argument with you, Lou. And I don’t think I’d lose this one.”

“Right, like you know anything about me and my dating opinions.”

“I know a bit.”

“You don’t know anything,” Louis says, hitting the brake harder than necessary as they approach Liam’s house. He turns and glares at him, feeling his annoyance grow more as Liam smiles at him, shrugging like he doesn’t really care, or like he doesn’t believe Louis. Either way, the shrug infuriates him completely. “And where the hell is your car?” Louis asks, noticing that the space it’s usually parked is vacant.

Liam grabs his phone and opens the door, stepping out slowly. “Thanks for the ride, Lou.”

“Liam, where is your car?”

Liam slams the door shut and grins, leaning into the open window so that he can see Louis properly. “You know, now that I think about it, I must have left it at the raptor paddock when I drove into work this morning,” he says, making Louis’ mouth drop open. “See you tomorrow.”

Fucking liar, Louis thinks, glaring at Liam’s back as he walks away from him. He slaps the steering wheel, quickly shifting gears, and peeling out of Liam’s property as quickly as he can, a tornado of dirt swirling wildly in his wake.

><

Saturday comes with open arms for Louis, after going to sleep early on Friday and lounging in his bed all day. He feels rested and just the slightest bit sluggish as he steps out of his car outside of Harry’s bungalow.

Unlike Liam’s bungalow, Harry’s is near other people and the center of the park. The only isolating thing about the place is the wooden fence surrounding the property, along with large hedges and flowering bushes to separate his property from his neighbors. It’s sandy brown with forest green shutters on the windows. It doesn’t look like Harry, or what Louis thought his house would look like, but it’s nice. Louis can tell he takes care of his yard, with raised garden beds along the side with different kinds of vegetables inside. That, Louis doesn’t find surprising.

Niall greets him at the door, a wide smile on his face and a sweating beer in his hand, as he ushers Louis inside. The place looks smaller inside than it does outside, and Louis can’t decide if it’s because the bungalow really is small, or if it’s Harry’s decorations. See, while Niall’s apartment had been clean and crisp, strong lines and decorated to feel like home, Harry’s place feels…witchy and dark.

There are dark curtains around the windows, velvety black and capable of blocking out every ounce of light if Harry were to pull them closed. The lamps are set low, casting a warm, soft glow across the room that illuminates everyone’s features just enough so that Louis can see everyone, but not enough that he can’t tell where he’s going. The furniture is plush and black, almost swallowed in the room. Louis shakes his head as his socked feet drag through a shaggy burgundy rug, because everything about this place is odd.

Louis drops down on a couch next to Zayn, who passes him a brown bottle that says cider on the side. And of course Harry would have cider – Liam waves a bottle of wine at him when he pulls a face at the cider, but even that’s not much better.

“I feel like we’re in a fancy dungeon,” Louis mutters quietly for only Zayn to hear, who laughs and nods his head. He looks around, admiring the black and white photographs on the wall and wondering if he knows Harry at all. He’d have never in his wildest dreams thought Harry, the park’s baby dinosaur mother in the short tan shorts and unbuttoned shirts, would live in a place like this. “I’m serious. Have you checked the place for shackles?”

“No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re not in the closet,” Liam says, voice low as he speaks the words into the bottle of cider.

“Or the bedroom,” Zayn says with a grin, laughing when everyone turns to look at him. “I don’t know, just guessing.”

“But you’d like to know, wouldn't you?”

“He’d like a lot of things,” Niall decides, nodding thoughtfully. “Think you’ll take one for the team if he tries to hold us all hostage?”

“I doubt he’d do that. He seemed pretty excited about everyone coming over tonight, don’t think he’d want to mess it up.”

“And where the hell is he at if he’s so excited?” Louis asks, frowning as he looks around, because everyone else is sitting around Harry’s living room, but the host of the night is missing.

“I’m making snacks,” shouts a voice from the other room. Louis follows the noise and sees Harry walking in through an archway on the far side of the room. “I made everyone my famous cheese and crackers. I make them for holidays back home. Well, made them. I haven’t made it back home in a while. I figured you guys might like to try them,” he says happily, grinning at them as he sets an orange serving plate down on the glass coffee table.

Louis bites back a laugh when he leans forward, because on top of the serving plate is an array of crackers laid out nicely, in neat little rows with a square cut of cheese placed on top. Nothing fancy, nor is it anything special, nothing that Harry made famous.

“And you uh, made these yourself?” Louis asks wearily, proud of himself that when he opened his mouth something truly sarcastic didn’t come out.

“Oh yeah. I'd say that I’m known for making these.”

“Even though the suggestion is on the box?” Zayn asks, his brow raised skeptically.

Harry frowns at him, kneeling down in front of the table. “What do you mean?”

“On the side of the box, they tell you to put cheese on the crackers. It’s one of their suggestions for what you can do besides just eat them.” Harry’s frown deepens and Louis sighs, pulling his foot back and kicking Zayn in the ankle. “I just mean that, uh… You must make these really well, then,” Zayn corrects quickly, reaching down and grabbing a cracker off the platter. He shoves it in his mouth, chewing noisily as Harry watches eagerly. “Definitely delicious, you did a great job.”

“Yeah, the perfect snack to have with cider and wine,” Niall remarks bitterly, raising his glass in the air as he bends over for a cracker. “You’ve really splurged.”

“There’s more alcohol in the kitchen, Niall. And food, if you’re going to complain all night.”

“Crackers are fine, might take you up on the alcohol, though.”

“Figured you would.”

“I thought you were bringing the drinks, Niall,” Louis chimes in, remembering Niall’s promise of liquor. “Or were you just talking shit again?”

“Wasn’t talking shit, but Harry said not to worry about anything, just to bring myself.”

“Yeah well, I’m taking that back if you’re going to keep whining all night,” Harry mumbles, resting his arms on the coffee table and making a face at Louis, Liam, and Zayn.

Things settle in quickly after that, the five of them falling into easy chatter as they drink and eat. Louis leans back against the couch and watches lazily as everyone gets along around him, listening as Zayn launches into a deeper discussion of what’s to come with him and Caroline working together. He mentions a new attraction at the park, something that they haven’t even planned but he’s excited for nonetheless. It makes Louis smile to watch, to see a new employee so excited about contributing to the park, to making it better.

Harry talks about his babies, all of the little ones at Gentle Giants, while also complaining that there are babies Liam is responsible for. He whines about how it’s not fair, because young dinosaurs are his specialty, but Liam’s out there stealing his glory and taking credit for something that’s not his. Which sparks an argument about how sometimes lines blur at the park, people have to cross over into other areas in order to do their job right.

Louis keeps his mouth shut about that, because as their boss, he’s going to get into everyone’s job and he’s not going to feel the least bit sorry for any of them when he does it better than they ever could.

But Harry makes a good point when he points out that if that were true, Liam should be better about getting help from other people inside of his department. And Louis has to bite down on his tongue when that turns into a discussion about what really happened between Liam and Calvin. He stays silent for as long as he can, because apparently only he knows the truth, and Liam doesn’t seem keen on talking about it besides reminding them that Calvin is an idiot that doesn’t deserve his job. Louis keeps quiet until he can tell that Liam is getting anxious, his annoyance obvious as he grips his bottle a little harder, rubbing the palm of his hand on his knee and refusing to acknowledge anything that anyone says to him outside of a few grunts.

“What if we find something else to do?” Louis asks, looking away from Liam when everyone turns towards him. “I didn’t say that I had any ideas, I just thought it’d be nice to actually do something.”

“Like what?”

“I just said that I don’t have any ideas, but I’m sure Harry has something in this house. And if not, we have an entire island to explore. Could go to the bar and drink instead of just sitting around here.”

“Well, I veto watching a movie,” Niall supplies. “I don’t want to hear Liam and Louis fight again because they’re not sleeping together.”

“Excuse me? We were fighting because Liam is wrong. So you don’t want to hear us fight because he doesn’t know how to formulate an accurate opinion of the world.”

Liam rolls his eyes, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m not going to say anything. But I do agree that a movie doesn’t sound like a great idea. But I’m fine with not doing anything.”

Louis turns to look at him, glaring at him. He’s doing this for him. And Liam knows it too, judging by the smirk on his face when they make eye contact. He tips his cider in Louis’ direction, putting it to his lips and draining it. Fine, that’s the last time Louis tries to help him.

As the rest of them talk about what they’re doing, Louis folds his arms over his chest, glaring at Liam defiantly.

He doesn’t know why Liam has to be so difficult all the time, why he can’t just take help when it’s offered. He was making it obvious how he felt about the conversation, and Louis, being the decent person that he is, just wanted to help. All he wanted to do was make it so that everyone was having a good time, but he can’t even do that right, apparently.

It’s only his second time spending time with everyone outside of work, his second time really doing something with people that he could call friends, and Liam is making him feel like he’s doing it wrong. And of course that’s not what he was trying to do, or at least Louis doesn’t think so. He was probably just trying to be a shit head, just trying to make Louis actually work to come up with plans.

Louis’ not sure what he was trying to do, but he knows that he feels like an idiot now, offering to do something without having any ideas on what to do. Just another reason why he shouldn’t bother with making friends, why he should avoid it the next time everyone makes plans.

Zayn leaning forward forces Louis out of his thoughts, the other boy moving to talk to Liam about something. He doesn’t even try to figure out what, since he’d rather not have to deal with Liam for the rest of the night, if he can manage it. So instead he gets up, following the sounds of Niall and Harry’s voices, finding the two of them outside with golf clubs in their hands, knocking golf balls into a coffee cup on the ground.

“What are you two doing?” Louis asks, dropping down on a piece of lawn furniture.

“We’re working on our putting,” Niall says, tapping the ball gently. It moves forward several inches, stopping well away from the cup. “As you can see, we need to practice.”

“Don’t you two play, like, every week?”

“Yeah? And? That doesn’t make us professionals,” Harry tells him, leaning on his club and watching Niall hit the ball again. “We do this recreationally, not professionally.”

“That sounds like an excuse for being shitty, if you ask me.”

Harry rolls his eyes at him, pretending to swing his golf club like he’s going to hit Louis before he drops it back down to the ground and hits one of the balls. He hits it harder than necessary, making the ball goes passed the mug on the ground.

“You’re ruining my game, Louis.”

“That’s why I came out here. If you can’t handle distractions, then you’ll never be able to golf.”

“That’s why people are silent during golf,” Niall explains. “You need to be able to concentrate.”

“Silent when they’re not playing on an island with prehistoric dinosaurs brought back to life through science, maybe,” Louis suggests, watching when Niall nods, knowing that Louis has a point. “Along with hundreds of tourists running around screaming about something.”

“To be fair, they don’t run around screaming on the golf course.”

“Technicality,” Louis decides. “They’re still on the island being loud.”

“That’s true,” Harry mumbles, right before he cheers because he’s landed the ball in the mug. “That’s my third time, Horan. Styles, three, and Horan, none.”

“Louis is distracting me,” Niall mutters in annoyance, knocking Harry with his elbow when he passes him. “And shut your mouth, Louis. I know you’ve got something smart to say.”

Louis holds up his hands, and then mimes the action of zipping his lips, locking them, and tossing out the key. Niall nods, turning his back on Louis to get into position. Louis watches him, sees as the ball soars passed the cup again, making Niall groan and kick at one of the balls. And as Harry gets up to help him, Louis turns his gaze back into the house, where Zayn and Liam are still talking. They’re laughing about something, still munching on the cheese and crackers in front of them. Louis watches them, wondering what they’re talking about.

He imagines that it’s something dumb, like about the dinosaurs or all the superheroes that Liam doesn’t know anything about but pretends to know everything about. Or maybe they’re laughing at Louis, mocking him for his failed attempt to get everyone to do something together besides sit and talk. But Zayn wouldn’t do that to Louis, he thinks. Liam would, since he’s a monster personified.

Louis can’t help but narrow his eyes at him, watching as he scratches at his jaw. And he must be staring harder than he thought, because Liam turns to look at him, a frown on his face that turns into a smile when he notices Louis watching. Louis pulls a face at him, flipping him off before he turns his attention back to Niall and Harry, pretending he can’t hear Liam laugh in the other room.

><

No one seems surprised when Louis decides to leave first. It’s late and he’s bored, if he’s being honest. Harry’s place is mellow and tame, just like Louis knew it would be, but it’s not what he wants for a Saturday night. There’s only so much coffee mug golf that one person can take, and Louis has reached his limit. He’s stayed long enough, though, or at least that’s what he thinks. And what he thinks matters…for something. It matters for this, anyway.

“Hey, wait,” a voice calls as Louis wraps his fingers around Harry’s doorknob. He turns to see Liam slowly making his way over, a soft smile on his face as he stops. “You going to open the door, or what?”

“What are you doing?”

“Leaving with you,” Liam says, reaching out and putting his hand on top of Louis’ to help open the door. He holds it open and places his hand on the small of Louis’ back to help guide him out of Harry’s bungalow.

Louis stares at Liam funnily; stepping out of his grasp as they walk along the walkway from Harry’s place to the area that Louis parked his car. The ground slowly begins to turn into sand as they walk, the sounds of the ocean crashing against the shore in the distance. Louis snorts as he realizes they’re taking a long, moonlit stroll on the beach after a night out together with friends.

It’s terribly cliché and Louis hates that Liam put them in this situation, hates how they’re walking silently together, just the two of them. And realistically it’s not, since the park has thousands of people in it, but it feels like it’s just them. The two of them and the dinosaurs with an entire island to themselves to do whatever they want. And what Louis wants is to find his car and go home.

“Zayn told me about his date with Harry,” Liam says eventually and Louis feels himself perk up in interest, because yeah, that’s definitely something he’d like to talk about.

“What’d he say?”

“He said it went really well. I think he said they went out to dinner and then had drinks at Harry’s place.”

“Really? Did anything happen?”

“I don’t think so, but he didn’t say,” Liam says, shrugging. “He said that they seemed to really hit it off. And he went home pretty late, so.”

“So, something could have happened?” Louis says sarcastically, because of course something happened. Harry and Zayn are both attractive, and Zayn wants it bad enough. Louis doesn’t see why Harry would say no, but maybe he did. Or maybe Zayn is just being shy about the details. “You know, they didn’t really talk much tonight. Are you sure they had a great time?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” laughs Liam, nudging Louis with his elbow. “Zayn said that he’s trying to back off a bit, since he doesn’t want to come off too strong.”

“And do you think that’s a good plan?” Louis asks. His face pinches together when he realizes who he’s talking to. “No, never mind. I don’t care about your opinion.”

Liam laughs in response, nudging Louis with his elbow again. When Louis looks up at him, there’s an odd look on Liam’s face. He looks like he wants to ask Louis something, something that he either knows he shouldn’t or doesn’t feel right about. It’s not a good look, and Louis frowns at it, wondering what it could be.

“What?” He asks, head cocked to the side as he steps over a tree root as the ground turns back into grass, a sign that they’re nearing the lot where Louis’ car is at.

“What, what?”

“You have a weird look on your face.”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about Harry and Zayn. Do you think they’ll last?”

Louis breathes out, shrugging. “I really don’t know,” he answers honestly, because he doesn’t. Harry doesn’t have the best track record for keeping relationships very long, for getting attached to people the way that they get attached to him. But Louis doesn’t know Zayn and his history with relationships, doesn’t know if his track record looks like Harry’s or not. Maybe it looks like Louis’, blank and sad, with cobwebs forming on the deteriorating corners because it hasn’t been updated in so long. “It’d be nice if they could. Zayn seems to really like him.”

“Yeah, I think he does too,” Liam agrees, nodding his head a few times. “Are you going to have to go all boss on them and talk about workplace relationships?”

“Depends on how things pan out, I guess. I thought about it,” he says honestly. “But probably not. I think a lot of people here date, hook up, whatever.”

And there it is, the look on Liam’s face from earlier. The skin between his eyebrows is wrinkled, his lips pursed together as he nods in thought. Louis waits as long as he can before curiosity gets the best of him and he stops them, grabbing hold of Liam’s elbow and forcing him not to go anywhere.

“All right, out with it,” he says, letting go of Liam’s elbow to place a hand on his hip. “What is it?”

“What are you talking about?” Liam laughs, grinning at him infuriatingly.

“You’ve been wanting to ask me something. What is it?”

Liam doesn’t look like he’s going to budge, staring at Louis like he’s been making it all up in his head. But Louis doesn’t back down, he stares at him – glares, more like – trying to keep his expression unbreakable, to let Liam know that he’s not going to forget about this anytime soon. If Liam wants to ask him something, then he should just do it. Louis doesn’t want him to tiptoe around him and spare Louis’ feelings. He can handle it.

Eventually Liam sighs, running his fingers through his hair. It needs a cut, but that’s a statement for another time. “I was just wondering, have you ever told anyone that we dated?”

“What?” Louis flounders, staggering back a bit.

“When we went out, did you ever tell anyone about it?”

“No, I didn’t. One date hardly counts as anyone’s business,” Louis informs him, turning on his heel to resume their journey back to his car. If Liam is going to talk like this, then Louis wants to get out of here sooner rather than later, and standing around talking about this nonsense is only going to make the process of getting home longer. “And also, one date doesn’t qualify as dating, so there really wasn’t anything to tell.”

“It could have been more than one date, if you had ever called me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah. Typically if someone wants another date, then they call that person.”

“I never said I wanted another date,” Louis laughs. “You’re delusional.”

“Yeah, I know. I figured it out when you never returned my calls,” Liam says, moving quickly to get in front of Louis. He turns around so that he’s walking backwards, hands in his pockets like the cocky shit that he is. “Don’t give me that look, I called you the next day.”

“No you didn’t.” Louis checks his missed calls regularly, answering every message that he gets. “You never called me.”

“I called you and you never returned it. Then I had my interview, and the rest they say, is history.”

“Oh god, no you didn’t.”

“I did, but all right,” Liam says, backing down easily enough with a shrug. “And anyway, have you ever told anyone?”

“Oh my god,” Louis laughs, rolling his eyes. “I already said no. It was one date, what was there to tell? There was hardly anything to brag about.”

Liam hums, turning back around to fall into step with Louis as they approach his car. Liam rests against the door, head turned to the side so that he can look at Louis as he fiddles with his keys. “Did you not tell them because you were embarrassed about the reason we didn’t work out?”

Louis snorts. “Why would I be embarrassed because you’re boring and unsuitable company when it comes to dating?”

“Oh right, no. No,” Liam says, shaking his head, copying the action with his hand, waving it around. “No, the reason we didn’t work out is because you are work obsessed and never even tried to give me a proper chance.”

“That is so not true.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it is true.”

“You have no proof of that.”

“Yes, I do,” decides Liam, nodding in what he must think is an authoritative way. He mostly just looks like a toddler that thinks it’s right by arguing with logic. “The proof would be that you got my call and my message, but never bothered to call me back.”

“First of all, you never called me. We already had that fight and I won. Please don’t embarrass yourself further by trying to resurrect it.”

“And?” Liam says, folding his arms over his chest, an amused smirk on his face.

“And, what?”

“You said first of all, what’s second of all?”

“Oh,” Louis mutters, frowning as he tries to figure out where he was going with that rant. Really he wasn’t going anywhere, since the point was made when he said that he won. “I don’t have anything,” he admits with a sigh.

Liam nods, thumb rubbing against his jaw. “I think another reason that we never worked out is because you don’t know how to have fun. You were intimidated by me.”

“Excuse you, I was just—we were just at Harry’s where I was having fun with my friends,” he says, even though he was a little bored, but whatever. Liam doesn’t know that. “And you were there, a prop in the background since I already remember seeing you have fun. So really, it was me, a prop, and my friends having fun.” He nods firmly as he finished, because yeah. Take that.

Louis huffs out a breath, running his fingers through his hair. As he calms down a bit, his heart rate slowing after his outburst, he realizes that he said friends.

His friends.

That’s the first time that he’s used that word since he started working at Jurassic World. It’s the first time that he’s ever considered the possibility of having friends, people that he can spend his downtime with and enjoy. People that he could talk with and help out when they need him, people whose lives that he actually cares about, like Zayn and his crush on Harry.

It’s been years since he got this job, and he’s just now finding friends. Maybe that kind of proves Liam’s point. Maybe he doesn’t know how to have fun. No, that can’t be right. It doesn’t prove anything besides the fact that Liam is an idiot.

“Oh wow, look at you. You managed to pull the stick out of your ass for five minutes in order to make fun of Niall and Harry.”

“Well, all right. Let’s have fun, then,” Louis decides, nodding as he shoves his keys back into his pocket. “What’s your idea of fun, Liam?”

“Really?” Liam asks, pushing off of Louis’ car with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Louis rolls his eyes, nodding. He has a point to prove; of course he’s being serious. “All right, follow me.”

“Follow you to my death, probably,” Louis mumbles, falling in step behind Liam.

They move through the lot where Louis’ car is, disappearing to an area where there aren’t as many lights as there were before and Louis’ skin prickles with worry. Liam wouldn’t kill him…probably, but that doesn’t stop Louis from feeling scared that it could happen. He shoves his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his phone so that he can whip it out if Liam tries anything funny.

Eventually they find themselves back near Main Street, as Liam punches a code into a gate that leads them to the back of the Innovation Center. There’s voices of tourists out late behind them, but Louis ignores them, following Liam cautiously into the private parking lot.

“You brought me to work,” Louis murmurs, frowning as he looks around the lot. “Didn’t you say that I was supposed to have fun?”

“Shut up,” Liam laughs, shaking his head. “Wait here.”

Liam leaves him there to walk under the overhang, stopping near the door and pulling something out of his pocket. He unlocks the metal box attached to the wall, the one where they keep the ATV keys. Louis really should put in a request that they move the box inside, since it really makes more sense to keep something as important as those inside.

Liam comes back waving two sets of keys, tossing one of them to Louis. “Number twenty-eight is yours, get on.”

“Liam, these are property of the park.”

“I know,” Liam says, jumping onto number twenty-nine. He shrugs when Louis looks at him, unapologetic, completely unfazed by the look that Louis knows he’s giving him. “Sometimes to have fun, you have to break the rules. Get on.”

Louis huffs, shaking his hair out of his eyes as he climbs on. He waits for what to do next, because to be honest, Louis has never actually operated one of these. That’s why he has a car, so he can avoid riding around the park on the company ATV’s. A stupid purchase made by someone at Liam’s request, a purchase that Louis understands a bit more now.

Liam seems to sense that Louis has no idea what he’s doing, because he sighs, jumping off his own quad to help Louis. He puts the key where it needs to go, getting the thing started. He pumps the foot pedal, telling Louis that he’s shifting the gears for him now since he’s likely to not remember as they’re out.

“Should probably put you in a helmet, shouldn’t we?” Liam mumbles to himself, looking around. “Do you know where we keep them?”

“You don’t use a helmet?” Liam turns towards him and grins, shrugging when Louis makes a face. “You’re going to end up being a massive lawsuit, aren’t you?”

“I will be if you don’t stop talking,” Liam tells him, forgetting his quest for a helmet as he jumps back on his ATV. “We’re not going anywhere dangerous, so you’ll be fine. Just try not to go too fast on the bumps and watch your turns.”

“Easier said than done in the dark,” Louis groans and Liam grins and rides off.

The gate opens slowly for them, the two of them pulling out of the Innovation Center parking lot cautiously, mindful of the fact they’re using company equipment and there are still park visitors out and about. They drive together as they normally would, not wanting to alarm anyone. But as soon as they reach the edge of Main Street, far enough away from everyone else, Liam speeds off. He cuts through the trees, moving onto a dirt path laid out from other ATVs and cars.

Louis follows behind, thighs clenching around the seat, hands cramping as he holds on, hand stretched around the brake, ready to pull on it at a moment’s notice.

The longer they ride, the more Louis feels himself loosening up. They’re moving through the park, just the two of them, with nothing more than the stars overhead and the dinosaurs. The wind whips through Louis’ hair, making it hard for him to see at times. But it’s perfect. This moment is perfect and Louis wouldn't trade it for the world.

He hasn’t done something like this in ages, felt the wind in his hair and through the material of his shirt. He laughs as he circles around Liam, chasing him as dinosaurs chase them, attracted by the noise and the movement. He turns and cuts through a herd, whipping around Liam quickly as he turns back around to head for the trees. A stegosaurus follows after him, slow and sluggish compared to the speed of the ATV, even though the dinosaur is much bigger in size.

Liam waves for Louis to follow him and he nods, turning the ATV in that direction and following the other boy towards the dark line of trees. He can barely make Liam out, grateful that the moon is full and bright, illuminating the island just enough for this night.

“What are you doing?” Louis asks, slowing the quad down as he’s finally able to match Liam’s speed. “We can’t cut through there, there’s water through those trees, remember? We’re by the Cretaceous Cruise.”

“I know,” Liam shouts, trying to be heard over the roar of their engines. “This is part of the plan.”

“What is?”

Liam smiles at him, pulling the break on his ATV to get it to stop. He nods at Louis, silently telling him to do the same as he shuts his off, hopping off so that he can help Louis with his.

“Come on, follow me,” he says, grabbing Louis’ wrist to help him off the quad. He lets go as they reach the tree line, using his hands instead to feel their way around, pushing plants out of their way so they’re not constantly bumping into things.

Louis can hear movement around them and he has to remind himself to breathe, that tourists are allowed near this area so nothing is going to happen to them. Or nothing should happen to them, Liam could still be plotting his death.

“Liam, I can’t see a thing. What are we doing?”

“We’re having fun, remember?”

“Okay, and what exactly is fun about wandering through the forest in the middle of the night?”

“This is,” Liam says, blindly reaching for Louis. His hand runs along Louis’ chest, dragging across his shoulders under he finds his arm in the dark. Louis rolls his eyes and resists swatting the hand away as Liam grips around his elbow, tugging him through a small area of dense bush before they reach an opening.

There’s a little bit of land before them, a tiny bank for people to stop their kayaks when they’re moving down the river. It’s more of a stream, Louis thinks, not as big as he likes to imagine rivers. Liam pulls him to the border where the water runs smoothly and silently along the edge, as the Earth slowly begins to sink beneath the surface of the water.

“Liam,” Louis breathes out, blinking as his eyes adjust, the moon breaking through their little opening and glowing it up perfectly. “What is this?”

“It’s fun,” he says as explanation, letting go of Louis and pulling his shirt off over his head. “We’re getting you to live a little, so tug the stick out of your ass and live.” He grabs the buttons of his pants, unfastening it and tugging down the zipper before he drops his pants. And well, he’s definitely wearing boxers this time. Louis can see them glowing and white, as Liam stands there, proud and patient, waiting for Louis. “Are you just going to stand there?”

Louis takes a deep breath, sucking it in and counting backwards from ten as he releases it. He clenches his teeth and squares his shoulders, looking at Liam defiantly as he strips down to his boxers. He tugs his socks off with Liam, carefully shoving them in his shoes and placing his clothes on top of them so the doesn’t lose anything. Liam doesn’t copy him; instead he dives into the water, squeaking about the cold with a laugh.

Louis steps to the edge of the water, feeling it on his toes as he watches Liam flip onto his back. He stares up at the starry sky through the canopy of trees overhead, as something sneaks up behind Louis. He jumps when he feels something brush against his leg, looking down to see a Microceratus next to him, looking at him before she dips her head into the water, drinking it. Louis is amazed that he was able to tell what the dinosaur was, but his amazement is short lived when he realizes where they are and what they’re doing.

“Liam, I don’t think swimming with dinosaurs at night is the best idea.”

“Louis, shut up and get into the water,” Liam replies, exasperated.

“Liam, I’m being serious. Some of the dinosaurs over here have measured at high aggression levels, most with medium aggression. We can’t guarantee our safety.”

“All of the carnivores around here eat fish. You’re not a fish. They’re going to know you’re not a fish by your movements in the water. Also, I’m fairly certain we’ll see most of them coming,” Liam says, pointing behind Louis. He turns, stepping quickly out of the way as a Stegosaurus steps out of the trees, making a sound at them that sounds like a huff. “Those are two low aggression dinosaurs, one of them considered to be very dumb. I think we’re safe.”

“Liam.”

“No, Louis. Come on. I know these dinosaurs, okay?” Liam says, stepping closer to Louis so that the water reaches his waist. “I wouldn’t put you in danger. You’re safe, okay? With me, you’re safe. Always.”

Louis can’t see his eyes but he can imagine them, fierce and determined. He nods to himself as he steps forward, the Microceratus stepping out of his way.

He closes his eyes as he enters, biting on his bottom lip as the water climbs up his thighs, reaching bits that he wasn’t expecting to get wet outside of his shower tonight. He sucks in a deep breath and thinks, fuck it, falling forward so he can take the water all at once. It’s colder than he thought, nipping at his skin and cutting through him.

“It’s so cold,” he mutters, fighting against the chattering of his teeth. It comes up to his waist, stopping right above his ribs and he wraps his arms around himself, wishing that he were at home, wrapped in his blanket and warm. Mostly warm, though. He doesn’t even need the blanket. “It doesn’t make sense why it’s so co—oh my god.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Something brushed my leg. Liam, something touched me.” Louis whines, trying to jump away from whatever it is. His mind jumps straight into the worst-case scenario, imagining one of the crocodile mouthed dinosaurs: Suchomimus or Baryonyx. Louis can’t remember if they swim under the water, but they probably do, just for him. “Liam,” he whines once more, kicking his legs around under water, hoping to connect with something.

“You’re fine,” Liam laughs. “Nothing is in the water besides us. It was probably a fish.”

“That’s something in the water, Liam.”

“I meant something of…sustenance, since a fish is hardly going to grab you by the ankle and pull you underwater.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh, god, just relax,” Liam tells him, stepping closer to Louis. “Lie on your back.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, please.”

Louis sighs and does as he’s told, dropping down slowly and then lying on his back, floating on top of the water. Liam grabs him under his arms, holding onto him firmly and pulling him backwards.

Louis seizes up at first, worried about what Liam’s going to do to him. But Liam doesn’t do anything besides pull Louis around, dragging him in a circle. Louis doesn’t know why he’s doing it but he finds himself laughing, his worry about what’s in the water slowly washing away the longer Liam holds onto him.

“I knew we could get you to loosen up to have some fun,” Liam says, voice quiet as he lowers himself into the water, slowly letting go of Louis. He grins at him as Louis rolls over, his chin resting on the surface. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

Something from the riverbank makes a noise, a tiny roar that makes Louis smile. They have company, it seems. Wanted company, since they’re on land and not in water.

“I know how to have fun,” Louis defends, sighing softly.

“Could have fooled me.”

Louis shrugs and feels like maybe he should be honest with Liam, because there’s more to Louis than he lets everyone see. More to him than just some boring boss that they all see him as.

“I wasn’t always like this, you know. Like this…work obsessed and focused person,” Louis mutters, rubbing his nose with his wet hand. “I think I used to have too much fun, or at least that’s what I told myself anyway, since I couldn’t keep a job and no one wanted to hire me.”

“Louis, I wasn’t—“

“No, it’s all right. I know that I’m boring and a bit dull. But it’s just—No one really gave me a chance before Simon, so when I was hired to work here at Jurassic World, I just wanted to do my job well. Just this one job. I didn’t want to fuck it up like I did with everything else,” Louis says, shrugging. “I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t a complete failure, that I could be more than just some…goofball that didn’t know how to be serious. I guess I lost myself somewhere, since I don’t know how to do my job well and really be myself.”

Liam’s frowning from his place in the water, brows pulled together as he stares at Louis. He knows too much, more than Louis ever wanted him to know. But there it is, the truth. The reason why Louis doesn’t have any friends, why Louis hasn’t dated anyone since…well, since before dinosaurs roamed the Earth wouldn’t necessarily be accurate anymore. But it’s been so long, and it’s fine. Or at least that’s what Louis had convinced himself until this moment, until Harry, Niall, and Zayn tried to become his friends, and Liam tried to get him to have fun.

Louis bites his lip as Liam continues to stare at him, taking a careful step in the water and moving closer to Louis. The moon is casting a soft light over them and the water, so Louis can make out the determined expression on Liam’s face perfectly, along with his muscles. They look wonderful in the moonlight, Louis can hardly deny it, and he doesn’t like the way Liam’s expression makes him squirm, makes his stomach flip, so he focuses on Liam’s arm, following the vein in his forearm up to the curve of his bicep.

Liam stops when he’s in front of Louis, reaching a hand out to cup Louis’ cheek, forcing him to make eye contact.

“I don’t really think you’re boring,” Liam says, eyes dark and serious. “And you don’t have to explain yourself to me, okay?”

“Well, I kind of do. I don’t want you to think you’re right about me,” Louis forces out, swallowing heavily. Liam brushes his thumb against Louis’ cheek, wiping away a water droplet. “Liam—“ is all he can get out before Liam is bending forward, slow and careful, waiting to see what Louis will do.

Louis freezes only for a second before he surges forward, gripping onto Liam and kissing him.

Both of their bodies are wet, making their skin slide together pleasantly, as Louis drags his hands over Liam’s arms, up his chest and holding onto his shoulders, worried that the water will drag him away with how light he feels. He feels like he’s floating and maybe he is, he can’t really feel his legs anymore to check and see if he’s still here or if he’s a million miles away in another world where kissing Liam is something he so desperately wants.

There’s a tiny roar from behind them, as Liam licks into Louis’ mouth, soft and sure, so precise in his every moment. Louis’ stomach drops to his knees as more dinosaurs begin to roar, but Liam doesn’t stop kissing him. He slides his hand down from Louis’ cheek to his waist, holding onto him tightly.

They’re kissing, surrounded by dinosaurs in a stream under the stars and it’s perfect. And Louis is only slightly freaking out somewhere in the depths of his mind, thoughts that he pushes back as digs his fingers into Liam’s skin.

><

Eventually, Louis gets too cold to keep kissing in the water, so they grab their clothes, patting dinosaurs on the head as they navigate through the trees to get back to the ATVs. Louis tries not to think about what happened in the water, how he practically threw himself at Liam to kiss him. He doesn’t know what came over him and he doesn’t want to think about it or attempt to process it all. Because thinking about kissing Liam means that he has to think about why Liam’s holding onto his wrist, gently guiding him through the thick line of trees.

Louis hides behind his ATV after Liam lets him go and strips off his wet boxers, trying not to cringe as he steps back into his jeans and feels the material slide against his wet skin. He shoves it all into a little bag attached to the side and hops on, following Liam through the island and back to his place.

The ride to Liam’s bungalow is short and Louis is grateful for that, keeping his head down as he steps inside.

“I’ll get you something warm,” Liam says, flicking on a light and tossing down his keys before he disappears.

Louis nods at his retreating figure, stepping inside and looking around carefully. It’s smaller inside than he thought it would be, a lot smaller than his apartment, smaller than Niall’s, and smaller than Harry’s as well. But it’s definitely Louis’ favorite.

The walls are made of wood, almost like they were done by hand. He tries to imagine Liam cutting the wood himself, sanding it down and make it smooth to the touch, staining it darker and making it look like home. Everything looks like home here, Louis finds.

It’s not perfectly neat, there are boots by the door, kicked off lazily when Liam walks in, Louis bets, tossed aside and forgotten until the next morning. There’s still a half drunk cup of water on the coffee table, right next to an open book and the TV remote. Louis smiles as he walks towards the shelf, happy to know that Liam’s not as perfect as he likes to let on.

“That’s my family,” Liam tells him, stepping back into the room and setting a pair of sweats down on a comfortable looking armchair. He smiles at Louis, stepping around him and kneeling down in front of the fireplace, the stones around it creeping up the wall and stopping at the ceiling. Louis imagines Liam doing that as well, because he doesn’t think anyone has a stone fireplace in their bungalow. “Gonna start a fire, warm the place up a bit.”

“It’s Central America, Liam, I don’t think we need a fire,” Louis mutters, tearing his eyes away from the smiling family in the frame. Liam looks like his father, with the warm smile of his mother. And his sisters—Louis sighs, shaking his head. He’s not sure he needed to know which of his parents Liam got what from.

“Then I’ll turn the air conditioning up, make it worth our while,” Liam retorts and Louis snorts, dragging his fingers along the spines of the animal books on the shelves.

“Where’s your bathroom?” He asks, finally tearing his eyes away from Liam’s bungalow to grab the clothes brought out for him. He doesn’t really want to wear Liam’s clothes, but his pants have dampened from the ride and his ass is going to chafe if he doesn’t put on something dry. “You do have one of those, right?”

“No, I go outside with the dinosaurs,” Liam mumbles, rolling his eyes as he closes the screen over the blossoming fire, the orange flames growing slowly and steadily. “It’s down the hall, only door on the right.”

Louis nods and follows the instructions, clutching the clothes to his chest and locking the door behind him. He breathes out once he’s safely away from Liam, resting his head against the wooden door. Now that he’s alone, Louis thinks that he has time to freak out.

Or he could, anyway, but for some reasons he finds himself stripping down silently, grabbing a towel hanging on a hook and wiping the damp remains of the river off his body. He steps into Liam’s clothing and ignores the fact he’s not wearing any boxers and he’s in Liam’s clothes, because he’s not fifteen anymore and it’s not a big deal. And he ignores everything that happened in the stream, folding his clothes back up and carrying them back down the hall.

Liam’s waiting for him on the couch, a steaming mug in his hand while another sits on the table in front of him.

“You all right?” Liam asks, studying Louis carefully as he drops his things down, grabbing the cup, and curling up next to Liam. “You were in there a while.”

“Was I? Didn’t feel like long.”

“Long enough for me to make tea.”

“Does it take you forever to make tea?”

“No, but I also had time to change my clothes.”

Louis nods because he noticed that, how Liam took his shirt off and changed his pants. It’s hardly changing though, is it, since he stopped halfway through and gave up. “You forget how a shirt works, Liam?” Louis asks, making Liam laugh as he sips his tea, feeling the warmth spread throughout his chest, slowly sinking down his body. If only he could get his toes to warm up, then his life would be made.

“It’s my house,” Liam says, like there’s any kind of logic to that statement. “You want me to put one on?”

Louis shrugs, because he doesn’t really care one way or another. Liam nods at that, bringing his cup back to his lips, drinking his tea in the ever-growing silence of his house. Louis stretches out as he drinks, resting his feet on the table and staring at everything that he can. Liam’s decorating is minimal, a couple pictures of his family on the shelves and some framed photographs of the raptors in a neat row on the wall. Louis almost snorts when he sees the dinosaur figurines mixed in with the miniature superheroes, all lined up neatly on the shelf below the television, some of them sitting on top of the DVD player.

Liam really is the nerd that Louis thought he was. Maybe not in the same context that he thought, but still, Louis knew that he wasn’t the supremely cool being that everyone else at the park thought he was. It makes him want to snoop through Liam’s things, dig through his drawers and find out all his worst kept secrets. Maybe Liam will fall asleep and he’ll be able to, to search and root through everything. God, he wants it so badly.

“Why are you smirking?” Liam asks, shifting his leg so that his knee presses against Louis’ thigh, trying to get his attention.

“Just thinking about your place. It reveals a lot about you.”

“Yeah, what about me does it tell you?”

“You’re not as cool as everyone thinks you are.”

Liam snorts. “No one thinks I’m cool, Louis.”

“They do,” Louis mumbles, groaning as he leans forward to set his empty cup down on the table. He falls back, bouncing slightly as he turns his head to look at Liam. “Everyone always talks about how wonderful you are.”

“So they’re not swayed by your attempts at destroying my character, doesn’t mean they think I’m cool.”

Louis snorts and shakes his head. Liam really has no idea how much everyone loves him, how great the world – or at least the island – thinks that he is. Louis imagines he must have a fanbase back home, a group of people that spend their time talking about the brown-eyed boy that came to Central America to train dinosaurs. It’s nothing like what Louis has waiting for him back home, just a family and not much else.

“You must not pay much attention, then.”

“No, I pay enough attention.”

Louis hums, shrugging. “Well, they think you’re cooler than what they think I am, so that’s like—mountains of cool. I mean, you said it yourself, I’m boring…or no, you said that I had a stick up my ass and I didn’t know how to have fun. That’s how you phrased it, right?”

Liam frowns and Louis realizes how self-deprecating his face must be, how ugly the smirk on his face must be, how he’s probably giving himself away, how much he cares that he’s seen as someone that doesn’t know how to have a great time, as someone who doesn’t know how to have a great time. He could be, if the circumstances were right.

“Louis, you know that’s not how I think you, right? I don’t— I mean, I really don’t think you’re boring. I just wanted to get you to have some fun, since you seemed pretty bored at Harry’s. However, I do think there’s a bit of a stick up your ass, but— Well, I imagine that a stick is necessary when you’re—“

“Me?”

“No,” Liam says firmly, shaking his head. “I was going to say someone who works in your position. You’re in charge of so much, Louis, and it’s—“ Liam sighs, shaking his head. “Anyone could lose themselves in that.”

Louis’ skin burns bright red at that, the reminder that he told Liam that. He poured his heart out for someone that he’s not even sure he likes most of the time. Or if he really likes, something like that. But maybe he does a little bit, if he’s willing to tell Liam all his secrets the way he did. That’s why Louis should be able to rummage through his things, to make it fair.

“And you know,” Liam continues, picking up like he never stopped. “It takes a lot of effort for me to be…cool, or whatever. If that’s even what I am.”

“You’re not,” Louis decides, laughing when Liam looks at him. “Not to me. Sorry, but it’s the truth.”

“Well, thanks for that. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” Louis grins, looking around quickly before his eyes dart back to Liam. “Can I root through your things?”

“Why?”

“I spilled all my secrets to you, so I want to invade your privacy.”

Liam nods a few times, wetting his lips as he leans forward and sets his cup next to Louis’. “Right,” he says slowly and carefully. “I don’t think that’s the same thing.”

“No, it is.”

“No, it’s not. You offered to tell me that information about yourself, I didn’t reach into your brain and pull it out myself.”

“You might as well have,” Louis mutters, folding his arms over his chest and trying not to huff like a child. “Fine then, tell me something. Tell me a secret. Tell me about why you’re here.”

“You already know why I’m here,” Liam says softly, shrugging when Louis glares at him. “Fine. I used to be military, served two tours in the war before I decided that was enough for me. I worked with the dogs while—“

“Shut up,” Louis urges. “No. I don’t want that version, Liam. I don’t want the generic bullshit. Tell me why you’re here.”

“All right,” Liam agrees, swallowing as he rubs his jaw. He’s quiet for a while, just the sound of the crackling fire breaking through the room as Liam tries to gather his thoughts. Louis waits and hopes that he hasn’t pushed a button that shouldn’t have been pushed, the one button with access to information that Liam doesn’t want to give.

But maybe Louis shouldn’t care, because he’s never told anyone about why he was here, about why he throws himself into his work the way he does. He never wanted to tell anyone that, but he did. Liam pulled it out of him. So Louis is going to pull until Liam tells him, even if it’s not now, even if it takes a bit.

But then Liam is sighing, rubbing his hands against his pants. “When I was in school, I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life. I had hopes and dreams, unattainable thoughts that everyone has when they’re young, but nothing…realistic,” Liam says, wetting his lips. “My father was a factory worker, not exactly someone that was super important to the company, but he did all right. All right enough that when I graduated, I was meant to go work with him. He had pulled a few strings to get me a job, something that I could have in case I really needed it. It was…the plan, I guess. His plan, anyway.”

“You never worked in a factory,” Louis says, frowning, because he’s read Liam’s file more times than he can count, and it never once mentioned any kind of factory work.

“I didn’t, no. Instead I enlisted. I took the test, did really well on it, chose my branch and that was it. A new plan. One I made for myself.”

“One you wanted?”

Liam shrugs. “At that time, I guess. I just wanted to do my own thing, you know. I went through boot camp, did everything that I needed to do to get ahead. There was nothing special about the time, except… I don’t know. They said I excelled at it, told me that I could make a life out of it. I could turn it into a career.”

“Is that what you wanted?”

Liam chuckles at that, the sound empty and bitter. “It wasn’t, no. My first tour was a nightmare. Nothing prepares you for war, Louis. Nothing. It doesn’t matter what they did with us, no amount of training can prepare you for that. No movies; not even your own imagination. It sucks,” Liam laughs, shaking his head. “After my first tour, I went home for a little while. I met a girl. Typical, right? Although, I didn’t meet her just then, had known her from before, had a massive crush on her in school.”

“What was her name?”

“Sophia, and she was gorgeous. I felt like the luckiest guy on the planet. We were engaged after a few months, then I went back.”

“How long were you engaged before you went back?”

“Two months, I think. Something like that.” Louis nods, shifting to get more comfortable. Liam’s file never mentioned Sophia, and Louis hates that he didn’t see that coming, although he feels like he should have. Liam feels like the type to have a pretty girl waiting for him somewhere. Not here, but somewhere. “When I went back, I was working with the dogs. That made it more bearable, being able to spend time with them and train them, but it took a while. It’s all kind of a blur now, that last tour with the dogs. Two years away, I think. I can’t remember.”

Louis bites back the ‘can’t or won’t’ that sits on his tongue, swallowing it down and burying it. Liam’s story is different from his, there are certain things that aren’t meant to be poked and prodded for more, certain memories that don’t need to be brought back to life after they’ve been buried.

“What happened?”

“What do you think happened, Louis?” Liam asks, and Louis frowns, nodding as he looks away from Liam’s face. There’s something there, a bitter memory that he doesn’t want to share. “It wasn’t anything tragic, it just…was war. I got injured and they sent me home. I didn’t want to go back, so I didn’t. It sucked, being away. Military life isn’t meant for everyone.”

“What happened with Sophia?”

Liam laughs at that, another hollow sound that sends chills down Louis’ spine. “War injuries aren’t meant for everyone either,” Liam says, brushing his hand along his ribcage. Louis frowns and follows the movement, trying not to gasp when he sees the scars, delicate white lines that he’s missed.

Louis reaches out slowly and carefully, pressing his fingers down on them. They’re smooth, barely noticeable in the firelight of Liam’s bungalow, but they’re there, curling over Liam’s ribs and dragging downwards, stopping in the center of his back, right above his kidneys.

“Sophia and I broke up shortly after I got back, and after a couple months at my parents’ house, I got the job at the zoo.”

“What happened?” Louis asks, because he really doesn’t care anymore about Sophia or what happened between them, why she couldn’t take it when Liam came back broken and injured. He doesn’t care about why Liam made it to the park. He cares about these lines, the scars that tell Liam’s story without any words. But Louis needs to hear the words; he needs to know what happened. “How did you—when did this happen?”

“The third of September,” Liam says dutifully and Louis feels his lungs contract and expand under his hand, can feel the radiating beating of his heart. “There was an explosion—“

“You were hit?”

“Not by anything important, just bits of metal. Broke my leg as well.”

“That’s important, Liam. Getting hit by anything in that situation is important.”

“Yeah, that’s what Sophia said,” Liam laughs, a stupid smile on his face that shouldn’t be there, not after the story that Liam’s just told. “I think that’s what people say when they’re worried about you.”

Louis shrugs, sliding his hand down Liam’s side, curling his fingers around Liam’s waist. “It’s almost like you enjoy putting yourself in dangerous situations.” Liam’s brow quirks up at that, his head tilting to the side, so Louis continues. “You signed up to join the military, then you started working at a zoo where people get attacked by animals from time to time, and now you’re working with raptors. I think you like feeling dangerous.”

Liam snorts. “I don’t think you’re reading into this the right way.”

“No, I’m reading into it perfectly, actually,” Louis retorts, glaring at the scars on Liam’s ribs. “Except, if you get hurt here, that’s my fault. I’d be responsible for any new scars.”

Liam sighs, his hand brushing Louis’ chin, sliding up his jaw until he’s cupping Louis’ face in his hands, forcing Louis to look at him. “I can handle the raptors, Louis. And it wouldn’t be your fault, it would be mine.”

Liam’s eyes are so brown and so earnest; Louis can’t help but nod, because he almost believes Liam. He can almost get behind the idea that it wouldn’t be his fault if something were to happen to the other boy. Louis swallows and nods once more, blinking to try and clear his head.

“You’re right,” he mumbles, licking his lips. “It couldn’t possibly be my fault when you’re an idiot.”

Liam laughs, fingers still stretched around Louis’ cheeks. “I’m glad we can agree on something.”

“That you’re an idiot?”

“No, I’m ignoring that part of it.”

“Shame, since it’s true.”

“Louis?” Liam asks, sliding his hand around to the back of Louis’ neck, gently pulling him in.

Louis swallows, throat tight and dry. “Yeah?”

“Do you ever shut up?”

Louis’ response is swallowed into a kiss, as Liam’s lips press against his. It’s different than it was in the water, less sure, hesitant and slow. Maybe because Louis didn’t start it, didn’t throw himself at Liam as water splashed between them. But Louis’ stomach still flutters and drops at the feeling of Liam’s tongue against his lips, his fingers curling around Liam’s side tightly. Louis needs the anchor, something to hold onto so he doesn’t drift away.

Liam’s lips are soft, gentle as he coaxes Louis’ mouth open. His hands are warm and strong on Louis’ body, curling in his hair and tugging softly, his other hand spreading over Louis’ shoulder and gently easing Louis onto his back, pressing him into the cushions on the couch. Louis spreads his legs open, letting Liam fall between them.

“You’re heavy,” Louis mumbles, nipping at Liam’s bottom lip. He’s being a shithead and he knows it, but it’s Liam and they’re kissing and it’s all so ridiculous that he has to say something. The room is too quiet, stretching thin as the fire dies in the fireplace, now nothing more than a pile of orange ash. “Really heavy.”

“Louis, shut up,” Liam sighs, dragging his lips down Louis’ cheek to bite at Louis’ jaw, doing his best to shut Louis up. The bite goes straight to Louis’ groin, his gut twisting, coiling down to where he’s half hard.

They’re only kissing and he’s getting hard.

Louis’ cheeks burn, embarrassed because he should be able to hold up better. He doesn’t want Liam to know he likes it. So he tucks his face into Liam’s shoulder, panting lightly as Liam works at his neck, biting and kissing and sucking, making Louis’ head spin.

There’s pressure against Louis’ hip, hard and heavy, and it’s Liam. Oh god, it’s Liam. Louis can feel him there, can feel the heavy weight of his dick pressing into him and Louis groans at the thought, that Liam is enjoying this as much as he is. And he feels a surge in his want for Liam, knowing that he’s growing hard as well, gripping onto Liam and pulling him into a kiss, frantic and messy, as his legs wrap around Liam, hips shifting up when Liam grinds down.

And it feels so good that Louis forgets it’s Liam that he’s with, forgets that it’s Liam breathing his name out into his mouth as he rolls his hips, legs tightening for better friction. He forgets except…he really doesn’t.

Louis is so aware that it’s Liam he’s doing it with that it feels like his body is vibrating, caught between _so good, please don’t stop_ and _what the fuck._ But the pleasure center of his brain is winning, telling him to let loose because he wants this. God, he wants this _so_ much.

“Do you want to—fuck,” Liam groans, biting at the corner of Louis’ mouth. “Do you want to go into my room? There’s a…bed.”

Louis nods, hips shifting, bucking up. “Yeah. Okay. Yeah.”

“No,” Liam says, sliding his arms under Louis’ body. “Just wrap your arms around me, all right?”

Louis frowns but does as he’s told, gasping when Liam lifts him up effortless, hands sliding from his back and down to his ass, holding onto him as he carries him down the hall. And fuck, if that’s not the hottest thing Louis’ has ever been apart of.

Liam can carry him. Liam can press him into the wall and probably hold him up as they fuck, and that’s—Wow. Louis grips onto Liam, licking at the curve of his jaw before he peppers kisses across his cheek.

Louis falls with a groan when Liam lets go of him, landing with a bounce on top of Liam’s bed. The lights are off, light seeping in from the other room, casting a soft glow into the bedroom. Louis can barely see, can just make out Liam’s body as he leans over Louis, hands placed on either side of his head when he lowers down to kiss him again.

“Want to see your room,” Louis tells him, because he does. He still wants to root through Liam’s things as well, but he’ll keep that thought to himself. Liam has shared enough tonight, and if things go right, it looks like he’ll keep sharing with Louis. “Want to see you.”

“I could turn a light on,” Liam mutters, words jumbled together as he presses his mouth against Louis’ collarbone. “Or I could suck you off, if you’d rather do that instead of dig through my drawers.”

“I didn’t mention going through your things,” Louis groans, shoving at Liam’s shoulder until he eases up a bit, letting Louis tug his shirt off and toss it somewhere on the floor. Liam is warm, like a furnace and Louis’ skin burns everywhere that he touches. Maybe that’s why Liam never wears a shirt.

“I knew what you were thinking.”

“What are you trying to hide, Payne?” Louis asks, bucking his hips up and reveling in the way Liam groans, his hard dick pressing into Louis’ hip when he moves. “What if we just did it like this?”

“Like what? Teenagers? With our pants on, rubbing against each other. See who can come first.”

“Yeah. I bet I’ll win.”

“I bet you will, especially if you let me suck you.”

Louis sighs, pretending to be really put off by the idea, even though he’s not. His cock aches at the thought of Liam’s lips stretched thin around him. “Yeah, okay. I mean, if that’s really what you want.”

“Is that what you want?” Liam asks, sitting up and shifting until he’s sat between Louis’ legs, hands resting on his knees. “You have to tell me it’s what you want.”

“Yeah, it’s what I want,” Louis tells him, lifting his hips up so that Liam can tug off his sweatpants, throwing them down on the floor.

“Slide down here,” Liam says, slipping off the bed and dropping down on his knees, hooking his hands under Louis’ knees and tugging him. Louis sighs as he wiggles down, legs being spread open slowly and carefully, Liam watching him for any sign of Louis not wanting this.

Liam touches him first, fingers wrapping around the base of his cock, stroking him slowly. It burns a bit, rough, dry skin dragging along his aching dick and making his head spin. He chokes on a remark, something that was supposed to be sarcastic, something to criticize Liam’s technique, just to get him to actually do something besides stare at him. But it’s nice, and it’s too much all at once. And Louis hasn’t done this in so long.

Sure he’s done it himself, but his cock knows that there’s someone else involved in this. And Louis knows, because there it is, Liam sitting between his thighs, his fingers skilled and practiced, like he wants to be good at this so badly.

Liam wets his lips when he leans in, anticipation written across his face, and there’s a flash of hesitation in his eyes when he looks up at Louis, silently checking to make sure that this is still okay, that this is still what Louis wants. And Louis’ tongue feels heavy in his mouth, dry and he doesn’t know how to use it anymore, so he brushes his fingers through Liam’s hair, eyes rolling when Liam’s tongue flicks out, wet and warm against the head of his cock.

“That’s—“ he starts, breathing out harshly through his nose as he refrains from tugging his hair.

“Good?” Liam asks, pulling off momentarily.

“Okay. It’s okay,” Louis tells him, laughing when Liam snorts, his tongue flattening as he drags it along the underside of Louis’ dick, making his skin shiver before lips around him.

And then Liam is sucking his cock properly, tongue lapping at the head while he presses down, taking Louis in a little bit deeper each time, the hand holding Louis’ thighs open moving to cup his balls, rolling them in his hand and Louis chokes because he wants to enjoy this, he wants it to last but there’s no fucking way he’s going to make it more than three seconds if Liam keeps that up.

Louis closes his eyes and clutches Liam’s hair, hips jerking forward as he fucks into Liam’s mouth.

“Yeah, yeah,” Liam encourages, spreading his hands out on Louis’ thighs, gripping into his skin as his jaw goes lax.

“Liam, I can't—fuck, I won’t. Won’t last.”

Liam pinches his thigh, glaring up at him as he opens his mouth wider – if that’s even possible, Louis is beginning to worry for him – and uses the grip on Louis’ thighs to push himself forward, the tip of Louis’ dick brushing against the back of his throat. He chokes a bit, gagging around Louis’ cock, sending vibrations that start in Louis’ dick and go straight to his brain, short-circuiting everything.

Yeah, he’s not going to last, so fuck it, he thinks, as he fucks into Liam’s mouth, his breath coming in sharp and quick. Liam is pliant in front of him, taking what Louis gives him, and judging by the hand he has shoved into his pants, Liam is enjoying this too and that—

Louis groans when he comes, low and deep, hips jerking, their movement slowing as his stomach twists in pleasure, eyes squeezing shut. It feels like he can’t breathe, his heart hammering wildly in his chest as Liam pulls off slowly, cleaning Louis off with his tongue.

“I’m sorry,” Louis mutters, feeling his cheeks burning because that was—anticlimactic. “I’ve got better stamina than that, I swear. I can do better.”

Liam laughs, head resting against Louis’ thigh. “Thought you did just fine,” he gasps, voice rasping and wet. And oh. Oh. He’s—well, Louis can do that. He should do that.

“Crawl up here.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t move and if you’re nice, you can just fuck my face like this.”

Liam laughs, shaking his head. “It’s fine.”

“Liam, just get up here.”

Liam groans, muttering under his breath as he stands, stepping out of his pants. Louis nods appreciatively, patting his stomach, offering to give Liam a place to sit. Although, if he was nice, he’d pat his face, give Liam the best seat in the house. Second best. One of the best places, at least.

“Come here,” Louis whines, reaching out for Liam blindly. Liam laughs and leans forward, pressing a kiss to Louis’ temple as he climbs over him, just barely putting his weight on Louis’ stomach like he wants.

And now that he’s there, Louis blinks, reaching out to wrap his fingers around Liam’s dick. He’s thick and hard. Big, definitely big, Louis notes, curving his wrist and dragging his thumbnail along the vein. He’s not sure how he can see all this, superhero vision after a sensational orgasm, or something, but Liam’s cock is wonderful, warm and heavy in his hand. Liam’s breathing is ragged as Louis strokes him, doing his best to urge Liam on, working him faster, trying his best to whisper dirty things, until Liam is gasping above him, spilling out onto his stomach.

“I didn’t think that through,” Louis mumbles, making Liam laugh as he rolls off of him, collapsing on his side. “Do you have something?”

“In the bathroom.”

“I don’t want to get up.”

“You’re so needy,” Liam groans, the bed dipping as he gets up.

Louis rolls to the side and stares, smirking at Liam’s little butt as he walks away, grabbing a cloth and wetting it in the other room. He throws it on Louis’ body when he comes back, ignoring the bed to grab two pairs of shorts out of a little dresser in the corner. He tosses a pair to Louis, who is rubbing the remains of Liam off his stomach, and then hops across the room to flick the light off in the hall, leaving the bedroom pitch black.

“Your butt is small,” Louis tells him, throwing the wet rag at Liam before he can lie down. Liam laughs at that, waiting as Louis tugs on the pair of shorts before he lies down, legs stretched out over Louis’ as he lies properly in the bed, not sideways like Louis is.

“I make up for it in other ways.”

Louis snorts. “That sounds like a man who overcompensates.”

“Are you going to insult me or are you going come up here?”

“Can you pull me? I’m too tired.”

“God, you really are a menace everywhere, aren’t you? I thought maybe this would be the only time you weren’t but,” Liam sighs, grabbing onto Louis’ wrists and pulling. “You’re going to have to help, I can’t drag dead weight.”

Louis bends his knees and pushes with his feet, sliding across the cotton sheets of Liam’s bed until a pillow cushions his head, one that’s cool and smells of Liam’s laundry soap. “So, what are you overcompensating for?”

“Oh god, shut up, Louis,” Liam laughs, pulling a sheet over Louis’ body. “What are you undercompensating for?”

“That’s not even a word. And that doesn’t make sense.”

“It makes a lot of sense, actually.”

Louis hums, too tired to entertain Liam’s delusions any longer. And Liam’s bed is soft and warm, like a fluffy cloud in the sky. And Louis’ limbs are still heavy, his body sated and happy with the outcome of the evening. If Louis were a different, better person, he’d write Liam a thank you note, something to let him know that tonight really was…good. Great. Great is a good word for it. On Liam’s part, Louis was less than stellar. He really could have done better, lasted longer, made things fun and interesting.

“Liam?”

“Hmm,” Liam hums, probably close to sleeping. Louis refrains from elbowing him in the ribs.

“I just. Well, I think you should know that I could show you a good time. A great time, under better circumstances,” he says, trying to be as vague as possible so that Liam knows what he’s talking about but doesn’t actually know what he’s talking about, at least not in any particular details.

It’s quiet for a while, the world quiet around them as Louis waits for a response. And just when Louis thinks that maybe Liam fell asleep, maybe he didn’t hear him, just when he’s huffing angrily and rolling on his side, Liam sighs, rolling with Louis and curling his fingers around his waist.

“You are great, Lou,” he mumbles, words muffled into Louis’ shoulder.

><

It feels like decades later when Louis wakes, the light leaking softly into the room through the cracks in Liam’s curtains. There’s a silent buzz in the room, the fan above Liam’s bed whirling around, making Louis curl the blankets around his body a little tighter, the air cool on his bare skin.

Louis lies still, staring through the slots in the blinds at the outdoors, aware of the fact that Liam isn’t in bed with him anymore but he could come back at any moment. He carefully peeks over his shoulder to see that the bedroom door is closed, so he’ll at least have a warning if Liam decides to come barging back in. He can’t hear the shower running, so maybe Liam is being a decent human and making breakfast. Louis’ stomach clenches at the thought, rolling in hunger, and yeah. Breakfast would be great.

But Louis doesn’t really want to get up any time soon. Getting up out of bed – out of Liam’s bed, his mind very carefully supplies – would be mean that he has to acknowledge the night before, and Louis really doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want to see Liam, see his post-sex smug face.

Louis knows that he’ll be smug about what happened, he just knows it. He’s probably out there writing a ‘congrats we got laid’ cake instead of making breakfast. And, because Liam is a monster, or maybe it’s because this is what Louis would do, he’s probably drawing a very detailed and graphic drawing of Louis’ dick.

The cake would probably be delicious, though, so maybe Louis is getting worked up over nothing.

As Louis grumbles to himself under his breath, he can hear the faint sounds of music coming from the other room. It’s a sign that Liam is awake and has no intentions of getting back into bed anytime soon. And that’s a good sign, since Louis thinks he’ll need at least three days to properly freak out about everything.

He had sex with Liam.

Well, not like…full-blown sex or whatever, just a little bit of sex. Some people might not even call what they did sex, they’d call it something like…fooling around or— No, calling it playing doesn’t sound right, because it’s not like there was a board out with little tiny pieces that they moved around after being instructed by some kind of dice.

Or it could be called playing, if Louis were to think of the bed as the game board and the dice as—No, they really would have had to use dice in order to make it a game.

Whatever.

They did something. Something that was definitely not PG and could, quite possibly, be labeled as sex depending on who you ask.

And see, that’s the thing. Louis doesn’t know what Liam views what happened as, which makes everything that much worse. Although, he probably does think they had sex and tomorrow morning he’s going to brag to the world about how he got to fuck the boss.

And oh my god, they work together. They work together. Louis forgot all about that.

Whatever, it’s fine. Everything is going to be fine. Louis knows how to keep things professional, he hasn’t slapped Liam upside the head yet, and if he can manage that, then he can do this. Louis can make sure that nothing that happened between them gets out to the rest of staff, or gets awkward. And he can definitely make sure it doesn’t become a thing. Because it’s most definitely never going to become a thing, especially not when Louis is involved.

That’s just how things work with Louis. Or for him, rather, since Louis can’t remember the last time he had a thing where the other person actually wanted a bit more than that.

So with a heavy sigh, Louis tosses the blanket off his body, carefully standing up. He looks around the room, frowning when he remembers that his clothes are in the other room. He could go out and get them; it’s not a big deal to walk through Liam’s place with just a shirt on (Liam has seen his dick, for Christ’s sake) but that doesn’t sound like a good plan.

With a smile, Louis rips open one of Liam’s drawers, digging around for a shirt. They’re all carefully stacked, one on top of the other, so really he’s digging around for secrets, but whatever, no one has to know.

When he doesn’t find anything, he huffs and grabs a white shirt, yanking it on and stumbling out of Liam’s bedroom.

“I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” Liam says, when Louis finds the kitchen, standing awkwardly on the other side of the room, as Liam stands at the stove, making bacon and eggs, from the smell of it. He’s wearing a pair of sweatpants, not the shorts he fell asleep in and they’re hung low, resting just over the curve - the barely there curve – of his ass.

Louis rolls his eyes, sliding down into one of the kitchen chairs. “Do you ever wear clothes?” He asks, frowning when Liam smiles at him, pouring water into a mug and dropping a tea bag in.

“Not in my own house, no.”

“Well,” Louis mutters, grateful for the tea, “wear them or I’ll have you fired.”

“I’ll remember that,” Liam nods, hoisting his pants up a bit higher before he drops his thumbs into the hem, weighing the material down and yeah, there is it, the curling hair that Liam so proudly shows off any chance he can get. And yeah, definitely just a one time thing between them. Totally. “I made you breakfast, if you’re hungry.”

“Starving, actually.”

“Bacon and eggs, okay?”

“We’ll just have to pretend it is,” Louis smiles, because he wants to be a little shit to Liam.

Liam smiles at him, shaking his head as he turns to make plates. Liam’s generous with the portions, loading Louis’ plate up and then passing him the salt and a fork. They eat together in silence, Louis’ stomach grateful for the food, his brain for the tea, both just what he needed to wake up properly, to shake the groggy, post-sex feeling in his body.

The back door of Liam’s house is open, a gentle breeze blowing through the front windows and out the door. It gives Louis something to look at as he eats, watching the tall grass blow in the wind, seeing the point where the grass turns to sand.

Liam has flowers along his deck area, bright pink and yellow, nothing like the plant life seen outside of Harry’s bungalow. It’s softer, delicate, the way Liam caters to the nature of the island.

“After breakfast,” Liam says, pausing to swallow his food. Louis turns to look at him, head tilted to the side. “After breakfast, I was thinking we could further explore your fun side.” Louis brow cocks at that, raising in suspicion. One time thing. “No, not—I was thinking we could go down to the beach together.”

“What if I had plans?” Louis asks.

“You don’t.”

Louis snorts, grumbling under his breath, because he could have had plans, if Liam had given him the chance to make them. It’s not like plans just fall into someone’s lap, or they do, in this case. And really, Louis wouldn’t have done anything today besides go home, lie down, and try not to freak out about the latest developments in his life. Besides, the beach could be good.

After breakfast, Louis changes into a pair of shorts and they walk down the familiar path to the beach. It’s just as nice as last time, sand warm and gritty beneath his bare feet as Liam guides him to the little shack, the one Louis was curious about before.

It’s homemade, wood uneven in parts, with a sheet of plastic over the top. Or maybe it’s metal, Louis can’t tell.

Inside the tiny shack is a stack of surfboards lined up against the back wall, stark white against stained wood. Louis frowns at them, because he’s never surfed a day in his life, nor did he know that it was a hobby Liam cared enough about to have five—no six, different boards for.

“Here, this should fit,” Liam says, handing Louis a wet suit.

Louis takes it and stares at it, feeling the soft material between his fingers. Liam steps into his so Louis follows, carefully watching what Liam does so he doesn’t put it on and look even dumber than he’s going to when he gets on that board.

He’s always wanted to surf, just never had the time or the resources to do so. But now he’s going to, in front of Liam. A thing he never thought would happen.

“Come here,” Liam murmurs, soft and quiet, gently turning Louis around.

Louis releases a shaky breath as Liam zips him up, enclosing him inside of the suit. It’s soft and hugs against his skin in a way that makes him feel self-conscious. It hugs every part of his body, leaving nothing to the imagination, and although Liam has seen him naked, Louis is strangely aware of how different their bodies are in these suits.

Liam is all refined muscle, ones that you can see and touch, defined in a way that Louis isn’t. Louis’ muscles are hidden, lost under the surface of his body, making him look soft in a way that Liam isn’t.

But when Liam smiles at him, passing him a surfboard and running out of the shack towards the water, Louis realizes that maybe the comparisons are all inside his head. Maybe he’s the only one trying to find differences between them. Maybe Liam doesn’t care that Louis can’t pick him up and throw him around for fun, if he really wanted to.

Louis shakes his head and sighs, adjusting the board under his arm that Liam gave him and following him out to the water.

“Have you ever done this before?” Liam asks and Louis shakes his head, squinting one of his eyes so he can see Liam in the sunlight.

Louis makes a face, shrugging. “Is this the kind of thing that I can lie about?”

“I guess, but I’ll know if you’re lying.”

“Right. I was worried about that. So no, I have never done this before.”

“Thought so,” Liam nods, setting his surfboard down on the sand. “Lay yours down next to mine, but give yourself some space.”

“Why?” Louis asks skeptically, gently lying the board down. He stays down on his knees, squinting up at Liam. “Doesn’t the board go in the water?”

“Yeah, when you know what you’re doing. Until then, we’re going to have a lesson on the beach.”

“And use what as the water?”

“Your imagination,” Liam says, grinning as he kneels down next to his surfboard.

Louis doesn’t know a thing about surfing, but with the way Liam’s talking, Louis is inclined to believe every word that falls from his lips. He makes Louis lie on his stomach, has him use his arms in the sand to practice swimming on the board – which doesn’t make sense to Louis and makes him laugh, because they both look ridiculous.

Louis is grateful that there’s no one else on the beach, that it’s just the two of them waving their arms around wildly and jumping up on the board, practicing their balance.

“This is absurd,” Louis laughs, holding his arms out like Liam tells him to. “I feel like you’re trying to embarrass me.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Liam tells him, gently pushing the back of Louis’ knee so that his leg bends a bit more. “And it’s necessary.”

“I know how to swim. I think that’s really the only necessary thing about this.”

Liam rolls his eyes and very carefully bites back a remark, probably something stupid that would make him rattle off an entire list of safety regulations and reasons why knowing how to swim isn’t the only thing he needs to know. Louis is happy that he doesn’t say that.

“You at least need to know the basics,” Liam says instead, taking a step back and nodding at Louis. “I think you’ve got. Surfing is one of those things that you need to practice in order to learn, so—“

“So using the beach as our ocean isn’t going to help me any.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Liam says, stepping around Louis and grabbing his board off the ground. He tucks it under his arm and smiles at Louis, the sun reflecting brightly off his grin. “Let’s go.”

Louis exhales slowly, grabbing his surfboard and following Liam towards the water. Liam’s better than what he let on, riding in the tiny waves as they roll onto the shore. He falls off a few times, but for the most part, he’s amazing. Liam excels in the water, just like he does on land, but Louis doesn’t have time to be bitter. He’s having fun.

He swallows more ocean water than oxygen, falling off his board and rolling around in the waves as they crash over him, and he rarely lasts more than a few seconds standing up, but it really is one of the greatest things that Louis has ever done.

Liam cheers for him when he makes it onto a smaller wave, standing up with his arms out just like Liam told him to, knees bent and body hunched as the board twists. Louis twists with it, riding the wave onto the beach. He laughs as he stumbles off, dropping down onto the sand and breathing heavily, his lungs burning from the exercise.

Out in the water, Liam’s fist is in the air as he screams encouragements. Louis shakes his head as he watches Liam, digging his fingers into the wet sand as the ocean washes over him.

Last night really was a one-time thing between them.

><

Harry’s shirt is unbuttoned past the butterfly on his stomach, revealing the upper half of the tattoo. Louis rolls his eyes when he sees it, resting on his elbows on the fence surrounding the perimeter of Gentle Giants.

It’s late afternoon, just a little bit before closing time, and not wanting to go back to his office and look over some files, dumb shit that he could put off on another day, Louis decides to stop when he sees Harry scrubbing the outside water barrels for the dinosaurs. And by scrubbing, Louis means squirting with a hose and occasionally bending down to scrub at some of the bits that won’t fall out, bits of grime and dirt that the dinosaurs have gotten into the barrels.

“Your uniform is inappropriate…again,” Louis tells him finally, when Harry releases the hose handle, dropping it down on the ground and grabbing the brush he’s using to clean. “I think company dress code indicates that no breasts of any kind should be on display during work hours.”

Harry shakes his head, getting down on his knees to reach the bottom, not even bothering to look up at Louis when he speaks. “Do you ever give this lecture to anyone else?”

“No, because I think you’re the only one who dresses this way.”

“Niall wore a t-shirt the other day, you didn’t say anything to him?”

“Niall works behind the scenes, in a sense, not with the customers. His representation isn’t as important as yours,” Louis explains. “And not only that, his tits weren’t showing, were they?”

“They almost were.”

“In a t-shirt? What kind of t-shirt was this?”

Harry shrugs. “A normal one. And I don’t look at other people’s tits, as you so put it, so I can’t say for certain.”

“I’m not looking, Harry. Or I guess I am, but not because I want to see anything. And as your boss, I think I should be allowed to tell you that four buttons undone without any sort of something underneath isn’t work appropriate.”

“You’re the only person who pays attention to how I dress. No one else cares,” Harry says, finally squinting at Louis as he stands, bending to retrieve the hose off the ground to rinse the barrel once more.

Louis rolls his eyes, because he thinks everyone in the world pays attention to what Harry wears. Or at the least the ones that visit the island do. And everyone who works on the island, all of the various employees that take the long way places so they can stare longingly at Harry. So maybe not everyone, but a large group of people in the world care about what Harry wears and how he wears it.

To prove Louis’ point, he spots a mother several paces away, her son feeding a Triceratops while she stares at Harry, a longing look on her face. Louis scoffs because yeah, no one but Louis cares or notices. Right.

“I don’t think that’s true, but we’ll pretend it is,” he says, laughing when Harry sighs, heavy and tired.

As frustrating as it is to have an employee break the rules, Louis really doesn’t mind how Harry dresses. Or no, he doesn’t mind as long as Simon isn’t on the island, because otherwise there’s no one complaining to Louis about it, and as long as that doesn’t happen, Louis is happy.

And Harry knows that he’s not serious about it and that he’s kidding, since there hasn’t been any disciplinary action besides a verbal scolding, one that turns into jokes and ends with a sigh, a sign that Louis has given up.

But this time when he mentions it, he really is teasing. And Harry knows it, or so Louis hopes anyway.

“Don’t you have something better you should be doing right now?” Harry asks, kicking the barrel upright to begin filling it.

“I’m making sure that you do your job. It’s one of the many perks of my job, checking to make sure everyone else is working.”

“Well thanks, I appreciate it. Am I filling this up correctly?”

“You could do it with more of a smile, actually,” Louis says, laughing when Harry grins just a little too much, a fake smile that makes him laugh as well, shaking his head at Louis.

“You’re a pest. I don’t know how they ever decided you should be anyone’s boss.”

Louis shrugs, pushing off the fence to stand properly, dropping his hands down at his sides. He wants to say no one, wants to defend himself and Simon, since he was the one – the only one – willing to give him a job, but he doesn’t.

There’s laughter around Harry’s eyes, a twinkle in them that tells Louis there’s no need to go up on the defense, since if he can mess around Harry, then Harry should be able to mess around with him.

It’s part of being friends with someone, the taking and giving, the teasing nature that comes along with it. And Louis is doing so well with friends, so much better than he could have ever imagined.

So ignoring Harry’s joke and sticking with the nature of keeping friends, Louis asks, “What are you doing later? Do you want to do something? It’s been days since I’ve seen anyone outside of work.” He leaves out the part about not seeing anything besides his apartment, not wanting to come off as totally desperate for companionship.

“I can’t,” Harry mumbles, scratching at his nose. “Zayn and I are getting dinner. But hey, no…actually, I’m sure you could come with us.”

“Oh, no,” Louis mutters, shaking his head. “I think Zayn would mind that very, very much.”

“No he wouldn’t, you’re his friend.”

“Yeah, and as his friend, I really shouldn’t crash on you two tonight.”

“Louis, no. Seriously, if you don’t have any plans then join us. I think we’re going to the steakhouse again. I managed to talk him into trying that shrimp dish, the one with the sauce thing on it. The good one, you know which one I’m talking about?” Louis shakes his head. He doesn’t eat there often enough to know the difference between dishes. “Right. Anyway, we’re getting drinks after, you could come to that.”

“No, that’s all right. I’ll pass on that. But thanks, though.”

“Louis, you’re our friend. Please come.”

Louis laughs, shaking his head, waving Harry off. “I know I am, and that’s exactly why I am not going to be joining you two tonight. It wouldn’t be right of me.”

Harry’s face bunches up in confusion, frowning at Louis for a second before he shrugs. “All right, I guess,” he murmurs, still looking at Louis like he can’t really figure out what Louis means by that. He doesn’t ask any further, so Louis doesn’t bother explaining it.

><

As Louis is walking through his door, his phone rings with a FaceTime notification, his mother’s name popping up on the screen as he kicks the door shut behind him. With a sigh, he presses accept, waiting for the screen to load. He’s surprised when the image finally loads and his younger sister is grinning at him, eyes crossed and tongue sticking out between his teeth.

“Daisy, what are you doing?” He laughs, shaking his head as he navigates his apartment.

“I wanted to see one of the dinosaurs,” she says. “And talk to you.”

“Aw, well. Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not near any dinosaurs right now. But I can give you a peek out of my window,” He tells her, turning his phone around so she can see out of his kitchen window. He’s not sure what the view looks like for her, how small everything is, or if the setting sun will allow her a decent view, but as she looks out on the island, Louis hears her ooh’s and ah’s. “How was that?” He asks, flipping the phone around so he can see her again. “Everything you dreamed of?”

“I wish I was there,” she says, her grainy face frowning at him. “Everything is boring here. It’s raining and Phoebe’s at her friend’s house.”

“Yeah? Why didn’t you go to a friend’s house?”

“I don’t know, didn’t feel like it.”

From somewhere in the distance, Louis hears someone shout something and sees Daisy’s eyes roll at whatever was said. “Who was that?” He asks, weaving his way around his kitchen, grabbing a can of soup from the cabinet and the can opener. “Are they mocking me?”

“It was no one.”

“Oh no, you can’t lie to me. Who was it?”

Daisy sighs, shifting around, making the camera shake in her hands. When it stops moving, Louis sees that she’s in the living room, lying on the couch on her back, phone held up in the air above her.

“You going to answer me?” He asks, pouring a bit of water into the pot with his soup and starting the fire on it. “I’m making food, so we’ve got some time.”

“It was mom,” she says, annoyed. “She said that I’m not at my friend’s house because I lied about where I was going yesterday.”

“Where did you go?”

Daisy sighs, shrugging. “It wasn’t a real lie.”

“Definitely felt real,” comes his mother’s voice, closer than it was before. “And no point in lying to your brother, he’s been in your shoes.”

“Thanks,” he mumbles, shutting off the stovetop. He opens the cabinet with the bowls, staring at them and then looking back to the soup, trying to figure out if he’s undignified enough to actually eat his soup out of the pot. No one would ever know, as long as he could get his family off the phone by the time it cools down. “And Daisy, if I’m right, then it would seem that she’s letting you stay up awfully late, and on a school night at that.”

“I don’t have school this week, Louis. We’re on break.”

“Oh, well. Excuse me, then.”

“But you should be going to bed then, shouldn’t you,” his mother voice says, as Louis decides to grab the bowl, dropping it on the counter with a clatter as his mother and sister argue about when Daisy should actually be sleeping.

Louis listens, getting his dinner ready, and wishing that he was there with them. It’s late, so the youngest twins would be sleeping, Daisy on her way, while Fiz and Lottie do whatever it is they do now that they’re teenagers and older, capable of being out late and all the other things that Louis hates himself for missing out on.

Eventually though, Daisy goes to sleep, wishing Louis a good night, right after she breaks his heart by saying how much she misses him. Louis promises to see her soon, saying next time she’s on a school break, he wants to hear about it so that he can bring her down to see him, to meet dinosaurs, and his friends. She perks up at that, kissing the phone screen before she scampers off, leaving Louis to his mother.

They talk for an hour, about the friends that he mentioned first. Louis laughs when she raises her brow at him, wanting to know all the details about this. See, Louis doesn’t lie to his mother. He tells her everything. And part of that, no matter how much it makes her frown, includes informing her that he’s the island’s only pariah.

So he tells her about Niall, Harry, Zayn, and Liam, enough so that she can probably tell them apart when they finally meet. He tells her about the island, how work is treating him and ignores her question about if ‘these friends of his have helped find him someone.’ There’s more to that then Louis cares to discuss, so he deflects by asking her about the kids, wanting to know everything that’s happening in his siblings lives, and hers as well.

They talk until his mother starts yawning, blinking heavily. And then she’s wishing him a good night, kissing the screen just like Daisy did and making him promise not to let it be so long between their next talk. He promises, smiling – albeit, a bit sadly – when he hangs up.

And then he’s alone.

Louis drops on the couch with a sigh, propping his feet up on the coffee table and grabbing the remote from the end table, flipping through channels on his television. There’s nothing on, not like there ever is. And there’s nothing to do on his phone, all of his emails answered, voicemails listened to and returned in the timely manner that they should be returned.

He’s bored, which isn’t unheard of when it comes to him since he spends most of his time bored alone. There really is nothing to do inside his apartment. He could go out for a drive, roam around the park and do his usual check on everything. But that doesn’t really sound like a good idea, not when it’s bound to be getting dark soon.

Zayn and Harry are together, so Louis can’t bother them. But there is one person he can bother. With a sigh, Louis pulls his phone out of his pocket, finding Niall’s contact name and hitting call. It rings and rings and rings, on and on until he hears Niall’s voice telling him to leave a message.

“All right, whatever,” he mutters, hanging up and dropping the phone down on his chest.

He sighs and looks around, trying to see if there’s anything, one tiny little thing that he can do inside his apartment, something that’ll pop out at him and scream, _‘I’m fun, do something with me.’_

Of course nothing does, because he’s Louis and this is his life. Bored. Alone. Bored and alone. And there’s a hole in his sock. He frowns, wiggling his toe and watching as it pops out of the little hole fully, staring back at him. Or not staring in a literal sense, but rather—whatever, his toe is out and Louis is staring at it. Fine, that works.

God, he really is bored. He groans, rubbing his face, because there’s still one more person that he could call. One person that he could get into contact with and see if he’s doing anything, that person being Liam. The same person that Louis swore it wasn’t going to be a thing with. And it’s not a thing. Not a thing at all. He hasn’t seen Liam in a few days, not since he left his bungalow with sand stuck between his toes and a soft glow to his skin, hair damp and sticking to his forehead. And it’s not because he’s ignoring Liam, because he’s definitely not avoiding the other boy.

Or…okay. Yeah, he might have been avoiding him a little bit. Just to silently clarify to Liam that they’re not a thing and what happened between them, also not a thing. So many not things going on between them and Liam needed to be brought up to speed with that. And he has.

So maybe… Well, maybe Louis can consider inviting Liam over to his place as another not thing. They can like, properly spend time together without it meaning anything or being anything. It’s possible. And not only that, but Liam had Louis in his place, so it really is only fair that he makes the stakes even.

Right. He can do this.

With a sigh, Louis grabs his phone, quickly hitting Liam’s name before he can stop himself.

Unlike Niall, Liam answers on the third ring, voice rough. “Lou?”

“Um. I’m bored.”

Liam laughs, breathy and light. “Okay. And?”

“Well, I need someone to entertain me.”

“Okay,” Liam mutters, obviously distracted. It’s quiet for a minute, something faint happening on Liam’s end of things, something that’s obviously more important than talking to Louis.

“Are you not going to ask me to hang out?”

Liam snorts, everything getting suspiciously quiet behind him. Louis squints, like maybe he’ll be able to see what’s going on if he concentrates hard enough. “You called me, Louis. Remember?”

“Vaguely,” Louis sniffs, staring at his exposed toe.

“I’m with the baby raptors,” Liam says after a beat.

“Still? It’s late. I thought they didn't need as frequent feeding.”

“Yeah. Why don’t you come down here?” Liam asks and then he hangs up, the call cutting before Louis has a chance to say that’s not exactly the plans he had in mind. But fine. He can play along with this.

Louis waits all of five seconds before he jumps off the couch, rushing towards his bedroom to find something to wear. He’s still in his work clothes, and while he could meet up with Liam in these, he doesn’t really want to. There’s sweat embedded in the fibers and he probably smells like baby dinosaurs, since they were the last things that he was around. Harry too, but he also smells like baby dinosaurs and sweat.

He takes off his clothes, hopping around his bedroom as he tries to tug off his socks as he starts digging around through his drawers. He tosses out options that really are just plain awful, throwing them over his shoulder without a care for where they land. It really doesn’t mean anything that he wants to look nice. It’s just that…

Well, tonight is the first night that he’s going to properly meet the newest raptors, so he wants to look good for them. Otherwise, he can’t be certain that they won’t spook when they see him, freak out about him and attack.

At the bottom of his drawer, he finds a pair of jeans that he wore once to get dinner. He remembers Harry saying that they should be considered him breaking dress code, whatever that means. They’re a little tight when he pulls them on, clinging to his body nicely. And they’re clean, which is definitely what he’s going for with this look. He grabs a grey sweater out of his closet, tugging it on as he grabs his keys and a clean pair of shoes by the door.

Louis walks to the Creation Lab, with a tiny skip to his step. The park is still pretty packed for this time of day, as most families are getting dinner or heading back to the resort for the night. It makes it easier to get to where he’s going, not having to fight through any crowds or walk behind a large group.

Louis finds Liam down on the floor of the raptor room, with tiny dinosaurs running around him, diving on top of each other and rolling around. There’s one perched on his stomach, it’s mouth open as it makes a noise that Louis can’t hear through the glass. Liam is laughing as he wiggles his fingers around in front of the raptor, who lunges forward as if it’s going to bite him. It doesn’t, and Louis releases a breath when he realizes that they’re playing together and nothing bad is going to happen…at least not right now.

Louis watches them for a little while, setting his things down next to Liam’s. He watches as Liam rolls around on the ground, the raptors chasing after him, grabbing onto his jeans. They scurry out of the way when he rolls the other way, one of them diving on him, getting him in his face.

Liam smiles when he sees him, sitting up, the raptor sliding from his chest to his lap. He waves at Louis, motioning for him to come inside.

“Have you been here long?” He asks as Louis steps inside, cautious of the raptors, all of which have turned to look at him.

“Long enough to see you rolling around on the ground.”

“They like that,” he says, a breathy quality to his voice, like there’s still traces of his laughter in it.

One of the raptors chirps at him as he sits down, tiny little noises as her head tilts to the side, blinking at Louis carefully.

“That’s the one I said you could name,” Liam tells him and Louis nods, noting the dark turquoise stripes down her sides that Liam mentioned before. “Pretty, isn’t she?”

Louis nods, carefully folding his hands in his laps, watching as he raptor moves towards him, tiny little bounces. “And you said this is the one that likes to bite?”

“Likes to bite me, yeah.”

“Just you?”

“Uh,” Liam mutters, laughing as he reaches a hang up to rub at the back of his neck. “Never really had anyone else in here for long enough to test that theory.”

“Great,” Louis mutters, smiling tightly as he reaches his hand out slowly. The raptor startles, turning and running back towards Liam, jumping up onto his shoulder like a parrot. It makes Louis laugh, watching as Liam reaches up to rub the raptors stomach.

They’re about a foot tall now, more or less, their tails just as long as their whole bodies so they look bigger than what they are. The one on Liam’s shoulder stares at Louis, leaning down carefully, her little arms dangling freely in the air as she watches, checking Louis for something.

“I think she likes you,” Liam decides, pressing his face into her side. She chirps at the contact, staccato and loud. Her little arms move, gripping onto Liam’s hand as he brings it up, allowing her to push her body closer to Louis without actually removing herself from Liam. “She reminds me so much of you.”

Louis ignores that in favor of looking around at the other raptors, one in the far corner, tail high in the air while the rest of her is low, like a cat ready to strike. She’s dark green in color, with no distinguishing marks like her sister on Liam’s shoulder, just green and pretty. Her eyes look yellow, bright and determined as her tail whips quickly, short and harsh movements before she jumps out from behind a tiny plant, hissing at Louis, low and raspy.

It reminds him of the Lion King, when Simba tries his hardest to sound mean and scary to the hyenas, instead he mostly comes off sounding like the adorable kitten that he is. In this case though, there’s no adorable kitten in front of Louis, just a mouth full of sharp teeth and a little dinosaur.

A blur of brown dives in front of Louis, colliding with the raptor in front of Louis, the third one coming out of nowhere to wrestle her sister. She’s quick and strong, diving over her sister easily as she spins around, nipping at the green one’s tail.

“So what is exactly is going on here?” Louis asks, laughing as the one on Liam puts one foot on his head, angling herself so that she can grunt at her sisters, short and quick sounds that definitely sound scarier than the tiny hiss of her sister. But not as scary as her older counterparts living in the raptor paddock, even their breathing is scarier than this. This is mostly amusing.

“Social development,” Liam answers, patting the raptor on top of him in the side, stroking his fingers down to her tail, as she shifts around to nip at his arm. “Just something to let them know that I’m the parent and not their sibling.”

“It looked like you were mostly just playing with them, from what I saw.”

“Maybe I was, but even parents would play with them. It’s mostly about letting them know their limits. They’re smart, so unbelievably smart, and we have to cater to that, while also keeping in mind that their so smart, their minds need to be stimulated, more so than any dinosaur here.”

“Daddy dinosaur,” Louis mutters, startling himself with how loudly he laughs at the thought. “Your ego is incredible.”

“I didn’t call myself that, you did, remember?”

“I know, it’s just funny to think about. Picturing you scolding them for not doing their homework and stimulating their minds.”

“You turn everything into a joke, don’t you?”

Louis beams at him, forcing Liam to shake his head with a laugh. “It’s one of my many talents, yes,” Louis informs him, jumping when a raptor tail hits him in the back. It’s not enough force to leave him breathless, just enough to leave a small, aching throb. “And also, it’s kind of funny because…well, they call Harry the dinosaur mommy, so it’s almost like you’re destined to be together.”

Liam snorts, lifting the restless raptor off his head and setting her down on the ground so she can attempt to boss around her siblings from a more comfortable location. “Don’t let Zayn hear you say anything like that,” Liam says, as the raptor dives into the pile, three eager dinosaurs trying learn about who they are through play and touch. “And Harry’s not my type.”

“Harry’s everyone’s type.”

“Is he yours?” Liam asks, one eyebrow arched as he looks at Louis expectantly.

Louis pulls a face, shaking his head. “I’m an exception to the rule, so no.”

“Well then, that makes two of us, doesn’t it?” Liam mutters, blocking one of the raptors from diving on him. He holds a hand out and stares at her, face set carefully. She snarls at him before she runs off, annoyed. “You have to let them know that they don’t decide when I join them.”

“You’re a mean dad, aren’t you?”

“I’m not mean,” Liam laughs. “I’m just trying to reinforce the fact that they don’t control me. That’s all. I’ll play with them, just not right this second.”

“No, you’re a mean dad,” Louis decides, shaking his head somberly. He tries his best to look disappointed; because dinosaur master Liam Payne is denying his beloved raptors something they want. It’s almost tragic to think about. “The park is going to fall apart when I tell everyone about the abuse in this room. You’re going to get fired and,” Louis sighs, shaking his head, “it’ll be tough to sign your termination letter, but someone has to do it.”

“You really are overdramatic, but all right. I’ll bite. You want to play with the raptors, let’s play with them.”

“I don’t want to play with them, I want you to play with them. I’m not their family.”

“No, but you could be,” Liam tells him and there’s something there, something in his eyes that makes Louis look away from him, turning his gaze to the raptors on the floor.

The green one is looking at him, eyes bright as she waits to see what Louis is going to do. He’s never played with a raptor before and as much as he doesn’t want to start now, he almost can’t help himself. He finds a small stick on the ground and picks it up, tossing it in the direction of the raptor. She catches it, jaw snapping down on it before her sisters dive on top of her, wanting what she has.

“You’re bigger than them and stronger than them, so if they get to be too much for you, just overpower them. They’ll back off, okay?” Liam says to him, waiting for Louis to nod. “All right, now they’re not ready for any kind of actual training, but do you want to see how I play with them?”

“I thought I did a pretty good job there.”

“Of winding them up, of course you did.”

“Please, you just sat on your ass and watched. You should be taking lessons from me.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Liam says, getting up from the floor. “Wait here.”

“Where are you going?” Louis asks, watching Liam exit the room to get something. Louis can see him fiddling around with something, digging in drawers and grabbing things out of the shelving units before he comes back in, arms full of puzzle toys that Louis knows are used for dogs to keep their minds stimulated, and a tiny bag of food. “What exactly are we going to do with them?”

Liam grins, tossing him the bag of food as the raptors rush towards him, already aware of what’s happening. Louis is reminded once more of how intelligent these dinosaurs are, reminded of the way they’re able to remember what happens in front of them. They remember people and events, objects and situations. Liam leaving the room and coming back, they know that’s something. They know it only means good things for them. And in this case, it means food and play, which is probably the best thing for them.

“We’re going to pack these up with food, then we’re going to throw them, hide them, everything we can think of them to make them work for it. They love it,” Liam says, grinning at him. “Their mom wouldn’t just give them food, especially not at this age. Maybe when they were younger, but they’re hunters. They have to work for food.”

“So we’re stimulating a hunt?”

“Something like that, I guess,” Liam laughs, joining Louis on the floor as the raptors bother them, tugging on their clothes and climbing on Liam’s body, anything to get a bit of the meat inside the bag in Louis’ lap. “We’re their family, Louis. We have to help them learn. We have to help them learn how to be dinosaurs.”

“You’re their family.”

Liam shakes his head, slapping Louis’ hand out of his way as he reaches into the bag once more. “No, that’s not true. Their family can’t include just me. It has to be bigger than that.”

“You’re really serious about this,” Louis mutters, almost to himself as he nudges a raptor away with his elbow, blocking her out of his way as he finishes sticking meat into the purple ball, letting a couple bits stick out of some of the holes so that they don’t have to work as hard for him. He’s sure Liam is packing the meat in extra tight, since he’s a mean dad and he doesn’t actually care about the dinosaurs like Louis does.

“A raptor’s sense of family is extremely important,” Liam says, waiting until Louis looks back up at him before he continues. “I think it’s what caused the raptors to help in the fight against the I. rex at the last park.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, everyone knows that they joined Indominus, betrayed Owen when she became their new alpha. I think partly it’s because she’s one of them, but also because she’s bigger and stronger. They know that. I’m sure they felt as though she’d be a better alpha in that moment,” Liam explains and Louis nods, able to keep up with him at this point. “But I think when she fought back against their family and made it clear what her intentions were, to destroy, to kill, in whatever way that dinosaurs make that clear to each other, that’s when they fought back. I think that’s why Blue came back to help the T. rex. She threatened their family and they weren’t going to have that.”

Louis nods, swallowing as he lets Liam’s words sink in. “Is that really what you think happened?” He asks, because it’s interesting and Louis isn’t sure how much he agrees on it, because there’s only so much that they know about what happened at the last park.

“Yeah. I mean, I guess it’s just a theory, but I’ve been working with these dinosaurs for a while and I think I understand them a bit. Enough to be able to make a guess like that.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Louis mutters, shrugging, because it’s a fair point. Liam does know the raptors far better than Louis does, even if he’s not sure if the raptors are on the same page with Liam. Only time will tell what they think, but Louis hopes to never find out. “All right, I’m finished,” he says instead of anything else, ready to get beady raptor eyes off his back.

“Okay, so throw it.”

“Throw it?”

“Yeah, call on one of the raptors, get her attention, and throw it.”

“Right. Um,” Louis looks around, noticing that one in particular is paying attention to Louis, the sandy one with turquoise stripes, her eyes boring into Louis as he shifts the ball from one hand to the other. He holds the ball in the air, the raptor standing a little taller on her hind legs, watching intently.

“Say her name,” Liam says, stopping him. “She has to learn it. Say her name.”

“Liam,” Louis starts because he doesn’t want to do this right now. Liam knows how he feels about this and he’s not going to be roped into it like this.

Liam sighs, hands covering the ball in his hand as the brown raptor nudges his arm with her head, impatient and ready for him to throw it for her. “I know you don’t like the idea of naming them, but for the raptors, it’s so necessary, Louis. It really is. They respond to them. They know them. And I need something that helps me when I’m training them,” he explains, his eyes pleading with Louis to please just do this for him. “She’s the only one without a name. I’ve saved it for you. It would mean a lot to me if you picked it.”

Louis stares at him, eyes studying his face carefully. His brown eyes are shining with desperation, begging Louis to please just see what he’s saying. And Louis does. He gets it. He understands what Liam is telling him, how the raptors aren’t like the other dinosaurs, not at all.

They work so closely with Liam and the other people in the raptor paddock. They’re smart and they learn things, and even if this is something that Louis so strongly hates, the idea of growing attached to one of these dinosaurs, especially for himself, he doesn’t want to ruin the progress that Liam has made or the progress that he’ll continue to make with them.

So with a sigh, Louis nods, turning back to the raptor. She silently watches him, waiting. She’s not like her sisters, she’s not subtle like the green one, she doesn’t study everyone else and mimic what they do. She has a mind of her own; she makes her own choices and does what she wants.

And she’s not like the brown one, the one that Louis thinks brushes the surface of aggressive and demanding in a way that could prove worrisome for Liam in the future if he can’t get control of it now.

No, the sandy one staring at him is sharp in different ways. Louis thinks she saves it for Liam, waits until he’s around so she can poke and prod at him, see how many of his buttons that she can push. She wants to annoy him. She wants to get under his skin and see how much of her that he can take.

Of course Liam would be reminded of him when she’s around, because the two of them both like to bite at Liam, like to do everything they can to grate at his nerves.

“What did you name the others?” Louis asks, wanting to make sure he doesn’t pick something that’s already been chosen.

“The green on is Peggy, like Peggy Carter from the Captain America franchise. They’re both strong and smart.”

Louis nods. “And the brown one?”

“Niall wants to call her Firefly, but I was thinking about just calling her—well, it doesn’t really matter what I want. We all know Niall tends to win these things,” Liam laughs.

“Right. Well. Now that I know Niall has picked an absurdly stupid name, I’m going to call that one Reign,” Louis decides, nodding. He can feel his cheeks pinking as Liam looks at him, his grin nearly splitting his face in half.

“Like what the sky does sometimes?” Liam asks, not even bothering to hide his excitement at having gotten Louis to break his no-name rule. Whatever, he can be a smug little shit another time.

“No, like a queen’s reign. It suits her. Is it dumb?”

“No, it’s not dumb,” Liam says, his smile shifting down to something softer as he tosses his ball back and forth between his hands. “I think Blue might argue about her being the queen, but it works. Call her and then throw the ball to her.”

Louis nods, releasing a deep breath, his shoulders sagging with the force of it. He feels nervous for some reason, like he’s about to give a speech in front of the president instead of throw a meat filled ball to an animal that died millions of years ago, not her specifically, but her kind before they were brought back.

“Hey, Reign,” Louis calls, capturing her attention when he lifts his arm in the arm, purple ball on display before he throws it in the air, watching as she runs and then leaps for it, hands and mouth closing around it before he sisters dive on her, attempting to fight her for just a little piece of the meat in the ball.

Liam calls Peggy, getting the raptors attention before he throws it towards the green one. She grunts at him, zooming forward to grab the ball before either of her sisters notices.

It’s amusing to Louis, watching as they use their sharp finger claws to dig the meat out of the ball, scratching and clawing at it, doing everything they can for that little bit of food. Reign roars at her sister, butting her with her head to try and send her away as the brown one – Louis probably is never going to call a velociraptor Firefly – quickly runs to her other sister, trying to get some of hers.

They snarl and growl at each other, fighting over the food. The noises they’re making are sharp, their intentions clear – to ward everyone else away from their food. It causes a commotion as the sandy colored raptor finishes her ball, chirping before she rushes towards her sisters. They’re diving on each other, rolling and fighting and trying to get the food.

Louis laughs as it happens, watching as they all rush around the room, trying to get the remaining food, nipping at each other and at Louis’ legs, wanting the food in his lap. Liam laughs as well, tossing another ball across the room as he shouts Firefly, giving her her ball so that she can lay off some of the others. But it only intensifies their actions, bringing out the hunters within them.

“What should I do with this?” Louis asks, pointing towards the bag in his lap.

“Hand it over, I’ll put it away,” Liam says, rubbing his hands on his jeans.

Louis nods, sealing the bag so the meat can’t fall out of it. His hands are slimy and gross, and he really needs to wash them, but he hands the bag to Liam anyway.

Before Liam can grab the bag, one of the raptors dives forward for it, and before Louis can pull it away, she clamps down on his hand. It’s not hard and it only stings for a moment before she’s gone, rolling back around with her sisters.

Louis curses as he pulls his hand forward, shaking it in a weak attempt to stop some of the stinging.

“Fucking shit,” Liam curses, grabbing Louis’ hand before he can get a proper look at it. “You’re bleeding. We need to get this cleaned.”

“All right, let go of me then.”

Of course Liam doesn’t listen, he grabs the bag of meat, ignoring the tiny toys that he brought in the room. He pulls Louis to his feet and then tugs at him, manhandling him out of the raptor room and back into the sterile environment of the Creation Lab.

“Your hand is covered in meat and it’s an animal bite, they’re not clean,” Liam mutters, almost to himself as he lugs Louis around, situating him in front of the sink.

Louis looks at his hand now that Liam’s not holding onto it, seeing the tiny prick marks where the teeth nicked his skin. It’s mostly superficial, like pinpricks or little cat scratches, nothing major, just the little ones that cause more blood than they’re worth.

Liam flicks the water on, testing it with his own hand before he pulls Louis’ hand underneath the steady stream, carefully cleaning Louis’ hand for him, rubbing soap into the wounds, washing away the blood and dirt and meat and soap.

“You might as well do my other hand while you’re at it,” Louis tells him, turning his body so that he can lean over his and Liam’s arms, rubbing his fingers together in a half assed attempt to scrub the skin. “I could wash my hands myself, you know. It’d be a bit easier.”

“It doesn’t hurt, does it?” Louis shakes his head, sighing when Liam lets go of his hand so he can properly wash them on his own. “We need to get some cream on it and then a bandage. You don’t want that getting infected.”

Louis laughs, shaking his head once more as he shuts the water off. “I’m sure it won’t.”

“Come here,” Liam mutters, patting the counter on the other side of the room. “Take a seat.”

“I’m not sitting down for you like this is a doctor’s office.”

“Shut up and sit down,” Liam laughs, grabbing Louis and hauling him forward. Louis rolls his eyes at him as he hops onto the counter, spreading his legs when Liam steps forward, grabbing his injured hand. “I think you’ll live.”

“I told you I would.”

Liam nods, face even as he grabs the first bandage, a blue one with a picture of Thor on it. Of course he has superhero band-aids. He lays it down on Louis’ skin gently, his fingers brushing over it to make sure it’s in place before he does another. He puts three bandages on in total, covering the ones that haven’t managed to scab over yet.

“And the final touch,” he mumbles, bringing Louis’ hand to his mouth. “For good luck,” he says, right before he presses three kisses over three bandages, lips lingering longer than necessary, in Louis’ opinion.

He rolls his eyes, pulling his hand out of Liam’s grasp before he does something embarrassing like enjoy it. “Everything about you is unnecessary,” Louis tells him, shoving him out of the way so he can jump down.

“I’ll take that as you saying thank you.”

“Yeah, well. Whatever you think it is, I don’t care.”

Liam laughs, cabinet slamming shut as he puts the band-aids away. He turns to smile at Louis, leaning back and there’s a look on his face, one of the ones that Louis hates. The ones that make him feel like a test subject being carefully watched while Liam holds onto all of his secrets, ones that Louis wants to know but not sure he’s ready to hear.

He wraps an arm around his body, wetting his lips as he casts his gaze down the floor, not sure how much more of these intense looks he can take.

“So,” he mutters, toes scuffing the floor as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to do now. “What are you going to do now that you’re finished with the raptors?”

He looks up in time to Liam shrugging, pushing off the counter and moving towards Louis. “I guess whatever you want me to do,” he says and Louis releases a shaky breath, nodding.

><

Louis watches nervously as Liam looks around his apartment, mouth open but no words coming out, just a tiny noise that Louis isn’t sure he’s meant to hear. He rubs his toe into his carpet because it’s not that bad. It’s bigger than his bungalow and sparsely decorated, the walls clean and white, with just a few pictures of his family hung up. And maybe…maybe it’s not the neatest place in the world, Louis is sure that there’s people out there worse than he is. He’s seen television shows to prove that, so the look on Liam’s face is a little bit rude, if he’s being honest.

“You know, I really wouldn’t have taken you to be so messy,” Liam mutters, eyes going just a teensy bit wide as he shakes his head, looking around as if to take it all in once more. “You’re so organized at work, on top of everything, and it just…wow. You’re really messy.”

“Okay, you can stop talking now, thank you,” Louis says darkly. “I’m not messy. I just don’t usually have people over, so there’s never any reason to clean.”

“You could clean for yourself.”

“Yes, I could, but I’m usually working when I’m here. Or eating or sleeping or any of the number of necessary acts people do at home.”

“Cleaning is necessary.”

“Not for my survival it isn’t. And before you say something stupid, because I can see that look on your face, showers are necessary when you work near dinosaurs in Central America,” Louis says, nodding firmly, feeling proud of himself for that.

Liam just nods in return, considering Louis’ words. “So back to what you said about having people over, does that mean you didn’t plan this?”

“Plan what?” Louis asks, confused.

“Me coming over to your place.”

Louis snorts so hard that he almost chokes on the sound, a laugh bubbling out of his chest at what Liam is implying. “No, I didn’t plan on bringing you back to my place.”

“Well now that I’m here, what are you going to do with me?”

Louis shrugs, sighing as he looks around his apartment. There really isn’t much here to do and Louis wasn’t really thinking when he invited Liam back here, he just knew that he wanted to go home and he wasn’t ready to be alone yet. And as much as it pains him to say it, Liam has been good company so far tonight.

“I guess you can clean,” Louis says, startling a laugh out of Liam. He shakes his head and runs his fingers over Louis’ shoulder as he passes him, moving through Louis’ apartment. “I was kidding.” He rushes after him, wanting to see if Liam is going to actually try and find his cleaning supplies that he has…somewhere.

Honestly, maybe it would be the best for everyone if Liam found them, because Louis’ not sure he remembers where they are. There’s a bottle cleaner under the sink and some disinfectant wipes but beyond that…Louis has no idea where anything is.

“I know you were kidding,” Liam says, shaking his head. “I just wanted to see what the rest of your place looks like. Is that dirty dishes in your sink?”

“God, mom. Yes, I have my dinner dishes in there. I apologize for not doing them immediately. Please don’t ground me.”

Liam smiles, fingers tapping against the sink as he looks from Louis to the dishes, like he really does want to clean them. And god, Louis really was kidding about having him clean. He doesn’t need his apartment cleaned and more than that, there’s not enough time to properly hide certain…things that he doesn’t want Liam seeing.

“If I do your dishes, do you think I can get something to eat?”

Louis’ eyes narrow as he considers the offer, glaring at Liam suspiciously. “Are you asking me to cook for you?”

“No,” Liam replies, shaking his head. “I’m asking for something to eat. You can throw a bag of bread at me, for all I care, I’m just really hungry and I’m willing to do…just about anything for a bite to eat.”

“Why didn’t you grab anything before you came over here?”

“Because you asked me back to your place,” Liam cries, smoothing out his hair when his voice rises, and Louis’ brow arching at the volume. “Louis, it’s kind of obvious that you don’t do…this.” He motions around Louis’ kitchen before he points to himself. “You don’t have people over, I didn’t want to fuck it up. I figured if I asked for food, you’d make me go somewhere and come home alone.”

Louis looks at him carefully, eyes flicking over the tense line of Liam’s shoulders, trailing down the muscles in his arms to where he’s gripping the sink. It wasn’t much of a revelation, nothing to print in the history books or write home about, but if Liam’s body is giving him away like Louis this it is, the statement is important, at least to Liam. He wants to be here and Louis wants him here, but he’s right. If Liam had made a comment about wanting to do something other than immediately come back to Louis’ place, Louis would have freaked and chalked it up to Liam trying to politely find a way out of going to Louis’ apartment.

So yeah, he’s the reason Liam is hungry. In a way. Really, Liam is hungry because that’s just the way that the human body works, but Louis is at fault in some way. Not an obvious way, but still.

Louis sighs and nods, running his fingers through his hair as Liam’s shoulders drop. “All right, you can do the dishes. I’ve got a frozen pizza that I can make.”

Liam grins, saluting Louis before he turns around to the dishes. Louis shakes his head as he opens his freezer, pulling out the pizza and tossing it down on the stove. He sets the oven to preheat and then waits, turning back to watch Liam do his chores.

The muscles in Liam’s shoulders and back flex as he works, contracting and expanding as he scrubs the pot that Louis used to make his soup. It’s not a bad sight to witness, though Louis thinks Liam might be doing it on purpose. Louis will never admit to enjoying the view, but he does, almost as much as he’s enjoying the way Liam is singing under his breath, a song Louis doesn’t recognize but enjoys just the same.

Liam’s voice is rich and smooth, sweet like chocolate and a hint of something sweeter, something crisper and sharper than that. Louis can’t put his finger on it but it’s there, hidden in the baritone of his voice and the lush, velvety noise producing something warm in Louis’ chest.

Another checkmark on the list of things that Liam Payne excels it; Louis wonders if it ever ends, or if there’s some kind of bag hidden deep within Liam where talents are stored and Liam just pulls them out at random, like a magician with a rabbit in his hat.

“What are you frowning about?” Liam asks, startling Louis out of his thoughts.

“You,” Louis answers, shrugging when Liam’s eyebrow quirks, waiting for an explanation.

“Just in general or was there a reason?”

“In general, I suppose.”

The oven beeps and Louis shrugs, because that’s all Liam is going to get out of him about that.

It takes twenty minutes for the pizza to cook, twenty minutes filled with Liam talking about god knows what. Louis sits at his kitchen table and does his best to listen, but Liam can talk. He can talk more than anyone that Louis has ever known, which is fine, his parents were probably thrilled when he said his first word, but Louis is having trouble keeping up, so he just doesn’t.

Instead Louis watches him carefully, watches the way that Liam fidgets as he talks, fingers drumming against the table, scratching at his forearm and tapping rhythms into his thigh. His face lights up as he talk, face twisting and curving into different expressions. Liam’s expressive and vibrant, his face giving away every detail of how he’s feeling inside, and Louis can see it all. He can read him like a book right now, even if he’s not listening to the words pouring out of his mouth.

They take the pizza into the living room where Louis turns on a mindless action movie, tossing Liam a napkin before he heads off to get him something to drink. He stops at the sink, hands resting on the counter as he breathes in deeply, trying to clear his mind. His thoughts are on a constant loop of Liam’s lips as they stretch around his words, the plumpness of them wearing thin.

God, Louis can’t stop thinking about his lips, every curve and twitch, every minute movement.

Louis breathes out slowly, shaking his head before he moves to grab two cups, filling them with the lemonade he made the other day so he can empty the pitcher.

In the living room, Liam is sitting on his couch, leaning back into the cushion with a piece of pizza hanging out of his mouth, laughing at the movie on television.

“You okay?” Liam asks, turning to look at him with laugh lines still around his eyes.

Louis nods, passing Liam a glass before he joins him. He tucks his legs under his body as he reaches out and takes a slice off the plate on Liam’s lap. “I was trying to decide if you deserved lemonade or tasteless water,” Louis lies easily.

Liam hums, looking at Louis like he’s trying to figure him out. “So what was everyone else doing tonight?”

“Zayn and Harry are together. And Niall…he’s disappeared like he always does. He’ll resurface at work tomorrow, I’m sure.”

“He always does,” Liam agrees.

“Harry asked me to join him and Zayn on their date?”

Liam’s eyes widen, mouth falling open slightly before he takes a bite of pizza. “You’re being serious.”

“Of course I am. Why would I lie about that?”

“I don’t know. Why would Harry ask you that?”

Louis shrugs, how is he supposed to know? “I don’t know. I guess he figured,” Louis pauses, shrugging once more, this time a little more defeated. It’d be embarrassing to say that Harry was worried about him being lonely, like Louis doesn’t know how to find a way to make plans on his own. He does. If he didn’t, would Liam be on his couch? Probably not, so that proves he’s a big boy and he doesn’t need Harry worrying about him, as nice as it was. “I don’t know what he figured. But I told him that despite how okay it was with him, Zayn would probably kill me.”

“Most definitely kill you,” Liam agrees, shaking his head, most likely imagining it and feeling awfully for Louis, if he were to take a wild guess. “I guess that’s why I’m here, isn’t it. To spare your life?”

“You’re not getting the title of knight in shining armor from me, try it somewhere else.” Liam laughs, hands clapping together as he turns to bury his face in the couch, muffling the sound of his laugh. Louis laughs at the sight of him, shoving at Liam’s shoulder when he falls closer to Louis. “It wasn’t that funny,” Louis mutters, shaking his head as Liam pulls himself together.

“I know,” Liam says. “I did save your fingers today, though, so I think that deserves me some kind of title.”

“Antibacterial cream and bandages aren’t exactly saving anyone’s life. I was hardly going to lose a finger, let alone my life.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do, I was there, remember? It was my fingers that were, as you put it, nearly taken off.”

“Yeah,” Liam sighs, frowning as he reaches out for Louis’ hand, taking it before he can object. He smoothes his finger over the skin, just like he did in the Creation Lab, brows knitted together in concentration, like he’s remembering every minute detail about how Louis was injured.

Louis watches him, wetting his lips and wondering if there’s anything he can do or say that’ll make Liam see the injury as minor as it is, or if Liam’s always going to make this out to be worse than what it is.

“Still not your fault,” Louis tells him, when Liam’s silence starts to become too much for him, the silence unbearable as his mind tries to guess what Liam’s thinking. “I shouldn’t have dangled a bag of meat in the air above hungry raptors.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you to pass it to me.”

“Eh,” Louis shrugs, curling his fingers around Liam’s hand so he can pinch the skin, trying to bring him out of his head and back into the moment. “Hardly a reason to blame yourself.”

“Is it bad that I think it’s weird you’re not blaming me?”

“For a cat scratch? Yeah, it’s bad.”

“It’s not a cat scratch, it’s a dinosaur bite,” Liam corrects, face scrunched up as he tries to look serious. “I just think Louis with the stick up his ass would have been livid with me.”

“He’s an ass,” Louis sighs, smiling when Liam laughs, nodding in agreement.

“Speaking of Louis with the stick up his ass, I hope you won’t be angry, but I mentioned to Niall that we went surfing together.”

Louis shrugs. It’s not something the world needs to know but it’s not something he’s going to cry about. “Is that all you told him?”

Liam frowns, bushy brows pulling together. “I don’t know what else there is to tell him,” he says, leaning forward to drop the pizza on the table along with his empty glass that had been sitting in his lap, held between his thighs.

“Did you tell him about what we did after we left Harry’s place?”

“About riding the quads?”

“No about my dick in your mouth,” Louis says, blunt and to the point, forcing a cough out of Liam as he chokes on his breath or his saliva, something that’s not pizza or lemonade. Louis shrugs when he looks at him, fiddling when the seam of his jeans with nervous hands. “Or anything else like that, I suppose.”

“No, I didn’t mention anything about that,” Liam says, cheeks the faintest shade of pink. His tongue flicks out slowly, tracing along his bottom lip before it disappears back into his mouth. Louis’ eyes track the movement, annoyed at being forced to remember how wonderful Liam’s bottom lip is. “I didn’t think you’d want to me say anything about that.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that.”

“Didn’t think it’d happen again if I did,” Liam admits, turning to look at Liam as he bites down on his bottom lip.

Louis’ eyes widen for a second, betraying the relatively calm demeanor that he’s trying so hard to achieve. But Liam is looking at him, really looking at him like he can see through Louis. And there’s a promise of something there, a promise of something more in his eyes that makes Louis’ stomach clench and dip in anticipation of what it could be, of what he could have.

With a sigh, Louis wiggles around on the couch until he’s up on his knees. He breathes out harshly as he climbs over Liam, planting himself firmly in his lap, trapping him between his thighs. He rests his arms on either side of Liam’s head and looks down at him, eyes studying the details of his face.

“What are you doing?” Liam asks, hands coming to rest on Louis’ thighs, eyes staring up at him earnestly, glistening as he waits for Louis to answer.

“I have no fucking clue,” Louis replies, leaning forward to connect their lips together before he does something smart like gain some sense and realize that this is a foolish idea and that Liam is foolish when he starts to kiss back, soft and sure.

But Louis kisses him without thinking about it, because he knows that he wants it, wants to feel Liam’s lips against his, to feel his hair between his fingers, and soft skin against his hands as they glide from Liam’s hair to his neck, holding onto him.

He kisses him because he wants to, and because he can’t stop thinking about Liam’s lips, especially his bottom lip. It’s so plump and pink. One of the most distracting things Louis has ever seen. Louis bites down, taking Liam’s bottom lip between his teeth, grinning when he hears Liam curse. Good, that’s what he gets for being so distracting.

It’s a little bit too much and a lot of not enough at the same time.

So feeling a little brave, Louis grinds down, smirking when he feels Liam’s hands clamp around his thighs, harsh grip dragging to his hips. It’s still not enough, though.

“Take me to the other room,” Louis murmurs against Liam’s lips, kissing him through the words as Liam nods, letting go of Liam’s waist with hand to push himself up.

Liam groans, as he stands with the weight of Louis, so Louis bites down on his lip again, because he’s not that heavy. He licks over the bite because he could let go of Liam long enough to walk but he doesn’t want to and he doesn’t need to, because Liam – bless him, honestly – is strong enough to carry Louis.

“You’re gonna have to tell me where to go.”

“Jesus,” Louis groans, because Liam literally can’t do anything without Louis’ help. “There’s a closet, a bathroom and two bedrooms back there. Take me to either of them, I don’t care.”

“Which bedroom is yours?”

“Jesus, fuck,” Louis curses, pulling away from Louis and wiggling around until his feet are on the ground. He grabs Liam’s arm and pulls him, dragging him down the hall into his bedroom. “Wait, go back and shut off that light.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re not in that room, Liam.”

Liam sighs, rolling his eyes as he rushes back to the light. Louis watches him go before he rushes around his own bedroom, kicking the clothes on the floor in the direction of the closet so that the mess is centralized to one place instead of everywhere. He looks around the room at his work, nodding to himself because it’s the best he’s going to do under such short notice.

And who was he kidding, he knew what he was really calling Liam for when he asked him to keep him from getting bored. Louis knew, deep down, that being with Liam was going to end up with someone having their pants around their ankles. And if he’s lucky, it’s going to be him.

Though, if Louis were to play fair, it’d be Liam’s turn. But Louis Tomlinson doesn’t play fair and a dinosaur bit him, he doesn’t have the strength to suck Liam off tonight.

“I like your room,” Liam says from behind him, startling Louis.

“Yeah, it’s all right,” he mumbles, kneeling down on his bed. “This is the best part of it though, don’t you think?”

Liam laughs, smiling as he moves towards the bed slowly. “It’s all right.”

“Well, you say that because you’re on the floor. If you’d get on the bed like I’m very subtlety asking you to do, then you’d see how wonderful it is.”

“Think I might stay here,” Liam mumbles, brushing his fingers through Louis hair.

Louis snorts, resisting the urge to bat Liam’s hand away. He’s not going to be hair brushed into a blowjob. He’s just not, no matter how nice it feels. “You could just ask if you want your dick sucked.”

“It is my turn.”

“This isn’t a board game, Liam. Who said anything about turns?”

“Isn’t that usually how it goes? I do you and you do me. It’s always nice to return the favor.”

“You sound like a creep,” Louis grumbles,

“All right.”

Louis nods, satisfied that Liam agrees with him as he reaches out for the button on Liam’s jeans. It’s right there and he’s only trying to be nice. He pushes Liam’s shirt up, patting him on the stomach.

As he carefully unbuttons Liam’s jeans, sliding the zipper down slowly, Liam takes his shirt off, stupid abs on display. Louis leans forward and bites them, as he slides Liam’s jeans and boxers down his thighs, just because they’re there and he can, because they’re lame and dumb and really fucking nice.

See, this is the part that Louis forgot about when he was considering if he was going to suck Liam’s cock or not. He forgot how wonderful it was, nice and thick, varying shades of pink, the head just as dark as Louis thought it would be. He’s embarrassed by how much his mouth waters just by looking at it.

“You don't have to you know,” Liam says, tilting Louis’ face up to look at him. “Could do you, if you’d rather do that.”

“Wouldn’t have taken your pants off if I didn’t want to,” Louis says honestly, because the look in Liam’s eyes, he needs to hear the truth. He needs to hear that Louis is okay with this and that he wants this, not just for Liam, but for himself as well. “But you owe me.”

“Anything you want.”

Louis nods, palming Liam’s dick as he thinks about it, feeling it when Liam grows hard, cock stiffening wonderfully. “Guess I’ve got some time to think about it,” Louis mutters, fisting Liam’s cock, quickly and roughly, fingers dry as they drag along his skin.

He spits in his hand and hopes it’s enough as he leans down and then stops. “Wait,” he says, pulling away from Liam, who groans, annoyed as Louis sits back. He glares up at Liam, tugging his sweater off his chest.

“Please don’t think this is rude, but seriously? Now?”

“Yes, now. I deserve to be comfortable.”

Liam breathes out, nodding as Louis flops onto his back, unbuttoning his jeans and shimmying out of them as Liam tugs on the legs. It’s not romantic and it’s definitely not sexy but Liam is still looking at him like he’s the greatest thing in the world, so he must have done something right.

“Right, now I might go and grab me some more lemonade.”

“Louis.”

“Kidding,” Louis mutters, as he positions himself in front of Liam.

Liam’s cock is warm in his mouth, precome just the slightest bit bitter as Louis does his best to swallow him down, tongue lapping at the head before he pushes down, relaxing his jaw and opening up his throat for Liam.

Liam seems to like it enough, deep groans and heavy whines leaving his mouth as he brushes Louis’ hair out of his face, hips rocking to help coax his cock a little further, just a little bit deeper.

There’s a vein along the underside of his cock and Louis focuses on dragging his tongue along the length from the outside, allowing Liam to fist his hair before he takes him back into his mouth, tongue dragging along the vein as Liam fucks into his mouth.

It’s quick and easy when Liam comes, a muffled shout escaping his mouth as he grips onto Louis’ hair, holding him there and groaning, cock pulsating in Louis’ mouth. His eyes water as he swallows Liam down, breath coming out harsh against Liam’s stomach before he pulls off, wiping the remains out of the corner of his mouth.

Liam pulls him into a kiss, tongue lapping at the corners of Louis’ mouth, chasing the taste of himself off Louis’ tongue. He pushes Louis gently on his shoulder, guiding him down until he’s lying on his back, Liam between him, his fist finding its way to Louis’ aching and neglected cock.

And because Liam’s a one-fucking-upper, he wraps his lips around Louis’ cock a few moments later, returning the favor and putting Louis behind him on their race to see who can suck the other off more.

Louis is too worked up to last, too turned on from the sounds Liam was making, from the feeling of having him in his mouth, and wanting to see Liam’s lips stretched around something more than just words. And he’s sucking him like he means it, like Louis’ orgasm is going to come with a trophy or a gold star.

It’s not, definitely not. Instead when Louis comes, it comes with a series of curses and moans, back arching off the bad as Liam pins his thighs down, focusing on the head, taking as much as he can get before Louis is spent, gasping and sensitive, begging Liam to stop as his entire body tingles in the aftershocks.

“You smug bastard,” Louis groans when Liam sits on his heels, smiling down at Louis. “You smug fucking bastard.”

“And why is that?”

“You and your…that shit earlier about owing each other. Taking turns, that’s what you said, isn’t it?”

Liam laughs, collapsing on Louis’ bed, head resting on his pillows. Louis stays where he is, legs trapped beneath Liam’s as he tries to catch his breath, as he tries to get his body to stop feeling like it’s on overdrive, like it needs more of Liam. It doesn't. It’s fine.

“You sucked me off, so I sucked you off. We’re even.”

“And the other one?”

“A reward for taking the stick out of your ass, doesn’t count.”

“Ah,” Louis hums, nodding as he moves to lie on the other side of the bed. He wants to make sure that he’s in position for bed, even if he’s not tired yet, he’s not going to move from this very spot until tomorrow morning when he has to get up for work. “Glad we’re even.”

“Me too,” Liam yawns, rolling towards Louis. He reaches out for him blindly, a question on his face as he slowly begins to settle against his side. He slides an arm under Louis’ head, pulling him closer. Ugh, a post-sex cuddler. Not sex. Post blowjob cuddles. Liam totally would be that guy and Louis’ bones are too heavy and tired to object to sweaty skin against sweaty skin.

And he’s obviously feeling a little delusional because he leans forward, kissing Liam softly and quickly. Liam smiles at him, sighing as he looks at Louis.

Liam is too soft, running his fingers through Louis’ hair, smiling at him like he’s painted him an entire cathedral or dedicated monuments to him, anything besides just kissed him, a mundane action that took minimal effort on Louis’ part.

Louis tucks his face in Liam’s shoulder to avoid the intensity of his gaze, breathing out against Liam’s skin and feeling as it prickles up beneath him.

The kiss Liam places on Louis’ shoulder is soft, tender in a way that Louis isn’t sure he was meant to feel. It’s just a brush of Liam’s lips against his skin, too soft to be anything other than adoration and that’s just… so much. Louis’ not sure he can take something like that, something so intense and foreign.

“You can go home now,” Louis says, only half joking as Liam laughs against his skin, fingers brushing against the skin of his back where he hand is resting.

“Is that what you really want?” Liam asks, voice low in Louis’ ear where he’s pressing a kiss. A stupid kiss that Louis wants to rip off his skin and throw away because it makes his chest tingle and his stomach swoop and Louis does not want Liam giving him tingles and swoops and feelings.

But his mouth is traitor, or he’s speaking without care, because he says, “I don’t really care, but you can stay if you want.”

“Do you want me to stay here?”

“I said you could if you wanted to.”

Liam laughs, breath soft and warm as it fans out of Louis’ skin. “I’m asking what you want,” he whispers in Louis’ ear, pinching his ribs like the jerk Louis knows he is.

“Yeah,” Louis mutters, burrowing himself deeper into Liam’s side at the admission. “Please stay.” And he means it, really fucking means it and wants it.

“Okay,” Liam says and that’s it.

Louis thinks maybe the world would collapse in on itself and he waits with bated breath, wondering when it was going to happen as the pattern Liam is tapping into his back slowly begins to stop, as he counts the number of breaths Liam is taking, but it doesn’t appear to be happening any time soon, so Louis releases a slow, steady breath. The world isn’t ending and Liam is falling asleep in his bed, the steady beating of his heart echoing in Louis’ head as he reminds himself that it’s not a thing, Liam sleeping here and the way they’re holding onto each other.

It’s not a thing and Louis sighs with the reminder, shifting until Liam’s arm loosens from around him, sliding from his back and down to his waist. Definitely not a thing.

><

“How was dinner with Harry last night?”

Louis looks up at that, eyes lifting from his phone where an email from Simon waits for him – and it can keep waiting, because the weekly reports haven’t come in yet, so he doesn’t have an answer – to look at Zayn.

He shrugs in acknowledgement of Niall’s question, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks. Louis grins at the sight, because they’ve been together all morning and Zayn has very carefully avoided the subject of Harry and any possibly mention of the boy, including bypassing Gentle Giants on their walk to the Mosasaurus Feeding Show, where Niall asked them to meet him about a glitch in the crane that hangs the food over the water, causing it to get stuck halfway for several seconds before it continues to where it should.

It’s an easy glitch that Niall was able to take care of before they arrived, meaning it was another thing that someone felt they needed Louis to hold his hand for.

“Come on, stop blushing and tell me,” Niall laughs, tossing down his tools to grab lean properly against the wall. “Tell us. You want to know, don’t you, Lou?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Zayn says, shrugging as he leans against the wall. “It was dinner, then we walked around for a little while.”

“Talk about anything interesting?” Louis pries, biting back a smile when Zayn sighs, rubbing his face to keep the red tint away. “Do anything interesting on that walk? Like drag him into a bush or something?”

“No, I didn’t drag him into any plants.”

“Press him against his door?” Niall asks, positively beaming. “If you don’t tell us, I bet I can get Harry to talk to me when we play golf this weekend.”

“No, stop. There’s really nothing to tell. I don’t even think Harry really likes me all that much.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know,” Zayn shrugs, rubbing his hands against the material of his shirt. “It’s just…a feeling that I have. He’s nice and…I don’t know. I feel like he’s entertaining me more than he’s dating me, like he knows I have a pathetic crush on him, so he’s just doing me a favor.”

“Harry’s not that nice,” Louis says, fixing Zayn with a look because really? No one is that nice. It’s not even a nice thing to do, to pity date someone and getting their hopes up and hurt their feelings. “But he is nice enough to let someone down easily if he’s not into them.”

“Yeah, I think Louis is right. He’s a good person but…” Niall sighs, shaking his head, “that’s definitely not something he would do.”

“And even if he was just testing the waters with you, he wouldn’t have agreed to go out with you for a second time,” Louis cuts in. “Or third? I can’t remember what number this is, but that sounds about right.”

Zayn bites his bottom lip, fighting back a grin as he looks up at the two of them, and Louis straightens up, shoving his phone back into his pocket because emails can wait. He has a feeling this is about to take an interesting turn.

“What is that grin about?”

“Nothing,” Zayn lies, laughing and swatting away Louis’ hand when he tries to tweak his nipples because he knows a liar when he sees one and Zayn’s pants might as well be on fire it’s so obvious. “I was just thinking how we’ve definitely been out more than two or three times.”

“Four times?” Niall asks and Zayn shakes his head. “Five times.”

Zayn’s smile almost splits in two when he shakes his head again, causing Niall and Louis to dive on him in interesting, shaking him around to try and get the answer out of him. “Get off me,” Zayn cries, works cutting out between laughs. “I don’t know how many times, I haven’t been counting.”

“All right, fine. But the number is high, so give us a clue,” Louis says.

“I’ll just say that we’ve been together everyday since I asked him out the first time. Maybe not in great length everyday, but…we make a point to see each other.”

Niall grins at Louis, mouth hung open in shock as he swats at Zayn’s arm. “You little shit,” he crows. “You had us thinking that there was no hope for the two of you or something but look at you. You’re practically boyfriends.”

“We’re definitely not boyfriends,” Zayn says, shaking his head adamantly. “We’re definitely not there yet, which is why I said it feels like he’s not into me. We spent all this time together and…not much comes out of it. And I’m not saying he owes me anything, because he doesn’t. But…I don’t know, I just feel clueless.”

“Maybe that’s a good sign,” Louis says carefully, shrugging when Niall and Zayn both turn to him, Zayn a hint hopeful and Niall glaring at him like he better have something smart to say. “I just meant that, usually Harry doesn’t last very long with people. Things tend to go pretty quickly for them.”

“So maybe it’s a good thing that he’s going slower with you,” Niall finishes and Louis nods.

“Exactly.”

“Yeah, maybe,” mumbles Zayn, rubbing at the stubble on his jaw thoughtfully. “You’ve both known him longer than I have, so I’ll trust you on it. I’m probably just overreacting.”

“It’ll be all right,” Louis assures him, clapping Zayn on the shoulder. “Niall spends loads of time with Harry, so he knows him enough that you should listen to him at the very least.” Niall snorts, shifting his fingers through his hair and muttering something quietly that Louis can’t really make out. “What’d you say?”

“Nothing,” Niall mumbles, studying his nails before he starts chewing on them, shrugging a shoulder when Louis glares at him. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

“No, you said something about Liam,” Zayn says. “But I couldn’t make out the rest of it.”

Niall sighs, slapping Zayn in the arm with the hand that was just in his mouth. “Thanks for that,” he mutters, shaking his head. “I just said that I don’t spend as much time with Harry as you do with Liam.”

Louis takes a step back, looking between Niall and Zayn- who is looking at Louis in confusion, like he doesn’t understand what Niall just said. Which is good, because Niall has no idea what he’s talking about. Louis doesn’t spend as much time with Liam as Niall does with Harry.

Harry and Niall have a date every Sunday to play golf, they meet up during work just to tell each other about what’s happened to them during the day. Louis does his best to avoid Liam at work, because Liam’s a show off and all of his stories would just ways to stroke his own ego and brag about how amazingly wonderful he is at getting dinosaurs to listen to him. Like it takes some kind of skill that only Liam possesses. It doesn’t. It’s been done before and it’ll be done after Liam.

So there. Liam and Louis are nothing at all like Harry and Niall, not even a little bit.

“How often do you hang out with Liam?” Zayn asks in curiosity.

“I don’t. I have no idea what Niall’s talking about.”

“Oh please,” Niall laughs, shaking his head like he can’t believe Louis. “A little birdie told me that Louis and Liam came to work together this morning.”

Louis swallows, clenching his jaw for just a second to keep from doing anything that’ll really give him away. “You didn’t hear anything like that,” Louis says, voice carefully even.

“I swear I did,” Niall says, slapping Zayn like he needs Zayn to believe him over Louis. “The little birdie told me that he walked out of your apartment this morning with you and then you took the elevator together.”

“No,” Zayn mutters, shaking his head. “You really heard that?”

“Yes,” Niall cries, tugging at his hair before he launches into further details about what he heard.

Louis can feel the heat rising on his cheeks, spreading down the back of his neck and onto his chest. His toes are probably red at this point, because he really wasn’t paying attention this morning, and he didn’t think about the possibility of someone seeing Liam leaving with him and gossiping about it to the rest of staff.

He doesn’t remember seeing anyone, which isn’t to say that it couldn’t happen, since he knows several other employees live on his floor and they very easily could have seen him and said something. But Louis wishes that he knew who it was, because he wants to find them, wants to grab them by the collar of their shirt and warn them that they better keep their mouth shut. Or maybe he could just fire them to make sure that they’re never able to spy on him again.

“Nothing happened,” Louis lies because for all anyone knows, it’s true.

Niall’s story is missing several key elements, like how Liam came over the night before and actually spent the night, and how Liam left wearing Louis’ clothes. They were able to find an older pair of jeans in the back of his closet, ones loose enough that Liam would feel comfortable wearing them and that Louis wouldn’t mind possibly getting ruined. The shirt, if anyone has paid enough attention to Louis’ wardrobe, would be obvious that it was borrowed, but apparently no one cares enough to notice, which is good.

Mainly because Louis wouldn’t be able to deny that Liam stopped by early this morning to talk about…something. Anything, really. Anything other than saying he slept in his bed and he doesn’t know how to keep his hands to himself while he sleeps and he constantly needs to be touching someone, mostly around the waist because they kind of possibly had sex the night before.

“Bullshit,” Niall decides, shaking his head. “Tell us what happened.”

“Nothing happened.”

“I told you about Harry. You tell us about Liam. I didn’t even know you liked Liam.”

“I don’t,” Louis says because someone leaving his apartment doesn’t automatically mean romantic feelings. “And who told you that Liam left my place?”

“I’m not telling you that,” Niall laughs. “I’ll lose my spy if you figure it out.”

“Well, whoever it is should see a doctor about their eyesight because it’s fairly poor if they assume two people taking an elevator together means anything. If that were the case, then you should ask me what happening between me and nearly everyone at this park.”

“All right. What’d you do with everyone at park?”

Louis groans, rolling his eyes. “I haven’t done anything. It was a point to show how…dumb your little birdie’s argument is. And you can tell them to piss the fuck off.”

“Oh, snappy,” Zayn mutters. “Something definitely happened.”

“Shut up,” Louis says, pointing at him. “Don’t you two have work that you should be doing? Neither of you are doing your jobs.”

“Actually, you put on my schedule that I’m supposed to be shadowing you, so yeah, I am technically doing my job since you’ve been talking to Niall.”

“Well,” Louis huffs, breathing out harshly. “Not anymore.”

“Oh, come on,” Niall groans, bending down to grab his tools of the floor, shoving the loose ones in the bag that he brought with him. Louis wonders if he even needed them or if he just wanted to carry it down here to show off for someone. “Just tell us what happened.”

“Nothing happened,” Louis says firmly, looking at the two of them. “He needed my help with the raptors, I helped him, it was late, so he crashed at my place instead of going all the way to his bungalow. That’s all. Now, can we do our jobs?”

Zayn and Niall share a look, like they’re trying to figure out if they should believe Louis or not. And whatever, Louis really doesn’t give a shit what they think as long as they know what didn’t actually happen. Their imaginations are going to run wild, but none of it is going to hit the nail on the head of the truth. As long as they don’t know what happened behind closed doors, Louis doesn’t care.

Granted, he does wish that they didn’t know anything, because it’s not a thing between him and Liam. They don’t spend every day together like Zayn and Harry, nor does Louis pine after him like Zayn does for Harry. The situations are different, even if they do like to fuck around every once in awhile. They’re humans with needs and if they can fulfill those needs no strings attached, then so be it, and no one else needs to know.

“All right, fine. I’ll pretend to believe you,” Niall says, shoving passed Louis on his way out the door. “But that doesn’t mean I do.”

“As long as you get back to work, I don’t really care,” he says, grabbing his sunglasses out of his pocket and shoving them on before he follows Niall out the door.

><

Friday night Niall decides that they haven’t seen each other in ages, so the five of them need to get together for dinner. It’s a load of shit, since they had lunch together the day before when everyone slowly started to invade Louis’ private, lonely lunch where he was going to review the weekly reports in peace. Of course that didn’t happen.

But even with that lunch and the knowledge that they’ve all seen each other individually - Louis was able to visit Gentle Giants to talk to Harry about a sick baby dinosaur, and he talked to Liam about the order for food that he put for the raptors, and he met with Caroline and Zayn to talk about their plans for the Innovation Center.

Niall still decides they need to spend more time together.

They’re at the steakhouse, which is bustling with tourists, everything just a little bit louder than it normally is when they’re here. Louis makes sure not to sit next to Zayn so that Harry can take the seat next at him. And instead of sitting directly next to Liam, he chooses to sit at the head of the table so there’s a corner between him and Liam.

Liam doesn’t say anything, so Louis assumes that it’s fine and that Liam understands that it’s not a thing, but just a thing. Not a _thing_ thing or whatever, but just a… _thing_ that’s not _a thing_. It’s not a couple’s thing, with the two of them sitting on one of the table while Harry and Zayn take up the other side, while poor Niall is stuck watching from the head, all alone and wishing that he wasn’t.

It’s not like that, which is why Louis chose to sit at the head of the table so Niall knows that he’s not all alone and Liam knows it’s not a thing.

It makes sense.

“I’m ordering the biggest steak that they have,” Harry announces, bottom lip pinched between his thumb and forefinger as he reads the menu. “I’m starving.”

“Yeah, think I might join you with that,” Zayn says. “It was good when I had it the other night.”

“Oh yeah,” Harry mutters, nodding. “What was that thing you got on the side?”

“Um, I got the zucchini with that weird pepper sauce on it that you liked.”

“No, not that, the other one.”

“Uh…macaroni?”

“Macaroni, yeah,” Harry says, grinning as he closes his menu. “I want that too.”

“Well now that you’ve made me starving,” Louis groans, dragging his finger down the column as he tries to figure out what he wants, his stomach bubbling in hunger as he rushes to find something while their waitress sets down their drinks, asking if they’re ready.

Everyone is rattling off their orders, telling the waitress what they want to eat and how they’d like it prepared. They decide to order the sampler platter as something to snack on while they wait for their meals. Louis sighs as he settles back into his chair, passing his menu off to Harry.

Something brushes against Louis’ leg and he frowns, pulling his leg a little further back in case he’s in someone else’s space.

It happens again, a soft, subtle brush against his ankle. He frowns and shifts around, peeking under the table to see a black socked foot a few inches away from him creep forward again. He glances up, eyes immediately connecting with Liam’s. He’s smirking over the rim of his glass, sipping his water like he’s done something amazing.

Louis glares at him and nudges him back under the table, a little harder than necessary when Liam flinches a bit, assuring Harry that he’s okay when he asks if everything’s all right.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Liam answers, smiling. “Just a weird body jerk.”

“Are you sure about that?” Louis asks, resting his elbows on the table so he can cradle his head in his hands. “Sure it wasn’t some kind of revenge for you being an ass.”

“Louis, he hasn’t done anything,” Harry says and Louis rolls his eyes because he has, actually, but Liam’s grinning, shaking his head at Louis as he brushes his foot against Louis’ under the table.

“Louis’ just upset because he had to pay more for raptor food this month.”

“Yes. Sure. That’s why Louis is upset,” he mutters, kicking at Liam’s foot. “Definitely the food that the dinosaurs need to survive, the dinosaurs that this park needs to survivor, the park that Louis needs to have a job. Yes. He’s upset about that.”

“See,” Liam says, smiling at Harry.

“You’re both weird.”

“What are they doing?” Niall asks, interrupting his conversation with Zayn to find out what’s happening on this end of the table.

“Nothing,” Louis replies. “Liam’s throwing around false accusations, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“They’re both weird,” Harry repeats, this time to Niall and Zayn. The two of them nod and then go back to their own conversation, and this time Harry focuses on the pair of them instead of Liam and Niall, leaving Liam and Louis to have their foot battle under the table.

And foot battle is the correct term for it, because no matter how far up Louis’ leg Liam’s feet inch, it’s not footsie. It’s just not. Louis doesn’t indulge behavior, instead he fights back, kicking Liam’s ankle, stepping on his toes, and kicking him in the shin (not too hard, since it is a pretty sensitive spot).

They’re so engrossed in their foot battle that Louis doesn’t hear anyone saying his name until Liam taps him on the arm, fingers resting there when Louis glances up.

“What?” He asks, looking around the table in confusion. “Sorry, what’s going on?”

“I asked if you knew Nick,” Harry says, red cocktail in his hand that makes him look like one of those women that definitely didn’t kill her husband, all he’s missing is the sheer robe and delicate black veil over his eyes as he mourns for his loss.

“Uh…”

“He works with Caroline. Well, not with her, but around that same area,” Harry elaborates. “Or no, wait. He just likes to bother her. He works in the, uh, the big room where you watch the park? What’s that called again? I can’t remember. He monitors the dinosaurs inside and away from them, if that helps.”

“Yeah, I know Nick, we talk pretty often. Why?”

Harry swallows the drink that he takes and says, “He asked me out to dinner but I don’t know him that well, so I’m not sure what to think of it.”

“He asked you out?” Zayn asks before Louis can really process what it is that Harry said. But yeah, it would definitely seem that Nick asked Harry out on a date and now Harry’s trying to decide if he should go.

The foot battle under the table comes to halt as Liam’s fingers tighten around Louis’ arm, the two of them sharing a quick look with each other and then to Niall as Zayn stares at Harry, the faintest traces of hurt in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Harry says. “We met the other day during lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever him before that anyway, and we talked for a while. And then he asked me out.”

“And you said yes?” Zayn asks and Louis wants to throw his glass across the room to watch it shatter, anything to distract Zayn and Harry from this moment, from this question, because it’s not going to go well for either of them.

Zayn’s going to get hurt and Louis doesn’t want to see that. But he can’t move, it’s like he’s glued to his chair and no matter how hard he tries to say something or do something to interfere with what’s happening, he just can’t.

“Well, yeah, but I told him I had to see if a friend could reschedule. Which is a lie, because I don’t really have anything else going on, I just wanted to make sure that he was an okay guy with Louis first.”

“Uh,” Louis mutters because Zayn’s gaze snaps over towards him, like Louis has betrayed him in all of this somehow.

Zayn shakes his head, taking his napkin out of his lap and tossing it down on the table. “Wow,” he mutters, his chair dragging across the floor loudly as he stands up to storm out.

Or maybe it’s not loud, since the restaurant around them is still filled with happy conversations, a man with a deep belly laugh going off to Louis’ left, but Louis feels like he could hear a pin drop in this moment.

“What the fuck, Harry,” Niall all but shouts as he throws his napkin down as well, jumping up from his seat and rushing off after Zayn.

Louis stares at where Niall just was, forcing himself to turn and look at Liam, who looks a little confused too. Louis wants to roll his eyes and shake him, because he told Liam about how Zayn was feeling before they argued about raptor food. He had said that Zayn wasn’t sure if Harry liked him or not and now it feels like Harry just confirmed it in the worst way possible.

“What just happened?”

“What do you think happened, Harry?” Louis says, finding his voice.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”

Louis sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, his other arm still pinned to the table where Liam is clutching onto him like a life support. “What did you think you and Zayn were doing when you were together, like when you went to dinner and stuff alone?”

“I thought we were hanging out,” Harry says, face pulled together in confusion like he doesn’t understand why Louis is asking him that.

“Just hanging out?”

Harry nods in response and Louis sighs once more, wanting to toss down his own napkin and storm out of the steakhouse.

“Wait, I thought you and Zayn were dating,” Liam says, finally catching up with the situation. God, Louis almost had to navigate this mess on his own.

“Dating? No,” Harry says, shaking his head as Liam and Louis nod back at him. “But he never—I mean, he never even called them dates.”

“Well, he’s been telling everyone that you’ve been going out on dates. And not only that, but he’s had a crush on you since the day he started.”

“But I thought…I mean. He hasn’t said anything. He hasn't even tried to kiss me or hold my hand, anything. He’s just,” Harry shrugs, shoulders dropping heavily with the action. “We haven’t even hugged.”

“Well, talk to him about that.”

“Yeah, it sounds like you both really need to talk,” Liam agrees, grip finally loosening on Louis’ arm as the shock begins to fade away, the situation no longer as dire as they originally thought it was going to be.

“It’s still a pretty shitty thing to bring up dating another guy in front of him like that,” Louis adds, because Harry needs a little salt in his clueless wounds.

“I didn’t know he thought we were dating.”

“It was obviously an accident,” Liam defends and Louis turns to glare at him, kicking him in the leg, this time not being soft and gentle about it. Screw the pain of being kicked in the shin, Liam deserves that pain and Louis isn’t going to be nice about it. “But Harry, you really need to go and talk to him to try and clear some things up. He’s probably really upset.”

“Right. Yeah, okay,” Harry nods, blinking before he takes a sip of his cocktail, draining the small glass. “I really am sorry, and I didn’t mean to.”

“We know, Harry,” Liam says, smiling softly as he pats Harry’s hand. “Just go talk to him. But stay and eat first. He probably needs a bit of time to himself right now.”

Harry nods and frowns down at the table, like he really is sorry about he’s done. Louis tears his eyes away from him and sighs, because in all the twists that could have happened tonight, Louis didn’t think that this would be one of them. And he didn’t think that Harry and Zayn were really both that hopeless about what was happening between them.

Soft fingers brush against his wrist and Louis turns to look at Liam. He smiles at him, squeezing him gently as if to silently say that everything will be all right between Harry and Zayn, and Louis hopes he’s right.

><

Liam and Louis leave Harry after dinner, wishing him luck with Zayn before the two of them head back to Liam’s place. It’s not a planned action on their part, but Liam needs a ride home and Louis doesn’t feel like going home just yet, so he crawls out of his car behind Liam and follows him inside.

While Louis flicks on a small lamp on the end table, Liam pads into the kitchen, leaving Louis alone to lie back on his couch like he owns the place. He kicks his shoes off and wiggles his toes as he stretches, resting his head on one of the pillows and sprawls out. He lets his eyes slip closed as he waits for Liam, listening to him making more noise than necessary for whatever he’s doing. Louis doesn’t know what that is; he just knows that Liam needs to quiet down.

“You look comfortable,” Liam says and Louis blinks an eye open to see him leaning against the kitchen doorway, arms folded over his chest as he stares at Louis. “I’m making tea.”

“Good, make me some.”

“I am, don’t start whining,” Liam says, disappearing into the kitchen once more. Louis lets his eyes close once more, folding his hands over his belly as he waits. “Dinner wasn’t as fun as we all thought it was going to be, huh?”

“For some more than others.”

“For one more than others, actually,” Liam corrects and this time his voice is closer, followed by a tiny clink as a cup is set on the table. Louis groans, sliding his legs off the couch but Liam catches him, dropping down on the couch before he pulls Louis’ feet back up. “You’re all right,” he says and Louis opens his eyes, sitting up just a bit so he can grab his mug but he keeps his feet in Liam’s lap all the same. “I still can’t believe that happened. I mean…Harry’s told me about them going out and I thought he really liked Zayn.”

“Yeah, well…Zayn’s been raving about Harry since the moment he saw him. It took me a while to drag it out of him, but still. He must be devastated.”

“I wouldn’t blame him,” Liam sighs, shaking his head as he brings the mug to his lips. Louis does the same, breathing it in. It tastes like peppermint, a flavor Louis has never experienced before with tea, but it’s nice. It makes Louis’ insides feel warm and fuzzy, reminding him of Christmas at home with his family, the warm smell of the fire crackling across the room as his sisters play with the toys and gadgets that he gets them every year. Louis likes it. “I think Harry really cares about him, though. He has to. He’s always talking about him.”

“You don’t know what he was feeling.”

“No, I don’t, but it sounds like he got mixed signals or something.”

Louis shrugs. “Or he only cares about Zayn as a friend and tonight was his fucked up way of telling him.”

“You don’t believe that,” Liam mumbles, frowning at Louis like a kicked puppy, all sad and disappointed that Louis would suggest something like that.

“No, I don’t,” Louis sighs, taking another sip of his tea as he rests his head against the back of Liam’s couch, insides warm from the tea. “But they’ll figure it out. We just have to give them some time.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. And I don’t think gossiping about them is going to help them any, so let’s just wait and see what happens.”

“I suppose I can do that,” Liam says, lifting his mug to his lips. He drinks it quickly, chugging it like he’s at a college party with a beer and not at home with a nice cup of tea. Louis watches in disgust, trying to keep his face even as Liam sighs, setting the cup down on the end table. “I did want to talk to you about something, actually.”

“Okay,” Louis mutters, trying to get the image of Liam drinking tea like a neanderthal out of his head. “I hope it’s something interesting.”

“It should be, it’s about your favorite subject: work,” Liam grins and Louis kicks him in the stomach, flipping him off when Liam wraps his fingers around Louis’ ankle, keeping him from being able to kick him again. “No, I just wanted to talk to you about introducing the baby raptors to the big ones.”

“Wait…you think it’s time?”

“Not right now, but I was thinking within the next week or two.”

Louis nods and then shrugs, because it’s not really his job to make this kind of call, so he doesn’t know why Liam is talking to him about it like he wants Louis’ opinion on the matter. “It’s up to you, whatever you decide, just let me know so I can touch base with Simon about it.”

“Of course, yeah. I was just talking with the other guys at the paddock and we thought maybe this time it’ll be better to introduce them a little earlier, and we’ve got a few ideas on how we can introduce them this time.”

“Yeah? Anything that’s going to cost me money?”

Liam snorts, shaking his head. “No, nothing that is going to cost you money. We’re going to bring them into the socialization room, keep the bigger ones penned up so they can’t get loose and just start by letting them sniff the babies, looking at them as they play around in that room,” Liam explains, voice rising a few octaves as he talks, his excitement shining through. “And we’re going to keep the babies inside a smaller section of the paddock, so they can interact with each other before I set them free and hope for the best.”

“You don’t think they’ll make it?” Louis asks, watching as Liam shrugs. “Is this a bad idea, Liam?”

“Why would it be a bad idea?”

“If the baby raptors aren’t going to survive, then I need to know that. I have to relay that information over to Simon, because if the bigger raptors are going to kill off any potential addition to the pack, then Simon is—“

“Going to see it as a drawback and ride my ass for not doing my job appropriately,” Liam cuts in, glaring at Louis from the other side of the couch. “I’m not saying that they’re not going to live. I’m just cautious about the fact that we’re about to try and introduce new members into a pack that operates fairly well on it’s own, with one beta that’s been around a lot longer than any of the rest of them.”

“You think Blue will kill them?”

“No, I don’t, but I know that she could, if I don’t do this right. And honestly, you could have just a tiny bit of faith in me on this.”

Louis scoffs, sitting up properly and dragging his feet out of Liam’s lap so that he can fold them under his body. “This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the dinosaurs.”

“No, it doesn't. Or maybe it does, but those raptors are mine. They’re my job, Louis. Everything I work for is inside of that paddock, and introducing these other raptors is—“ Liam sighs, shaking his head. “It’d just be nice if you thought that I could do it.”

“Liam, what the fuck,” Louis says, voice just below a shout. “I never said that you couldn’t do it. I’m just saying that if you think the older raptors aren’t going to respond to new additions, then I need to talk to Simon because he’s going to want to cease production of raptors, meaning we won’t get anymore. It has nothing to do with my faith in your ability to do your job. I know that you’re good at your job. And I know that you can introduce the raptors to each other, so don’t try and twist my words.”

Liam nods and smiles, breathing out slowly. “Sorry,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to start a fight.”

“Yeah, you were.”

“No, honest,” Liam says. “Scout’s honor.”

“Right,” Louis mutters, setting his mug down. It was hard to look stern with that in his hand and the tea’s gone all cool so he doesn’t want it anymore. “Well, at any rate, I wouldn’t tell Simon anything that would get you in trouble. It’s not your fault if dinosaurs eat each other; it’s nature, I suppose.”

“I don’t think Simon sees it like that.”

“Simon spends the majority of his time – and we’re talking like, ninety-nine point nine percent of his time – sat in some lush office who the fuck knows where. He has no idea what goes on in this park besides what I tell him,” Louis reminds him, because it might as well be Louis’ park for all that he has to do. “He’s going to trust what I tell him.”

“And what are you going to tell him?”

“That you’re a pain in the ass.”

Liam laughs, the light coming back to his eyes as he shifts onto his side, body angled so he can look at Louis straight on. “You wouldn’t tell him that.”

“Think I would, actually. I tend to tell most people that.”

“You don’t tell them about how great you think I am at my job?”

Louis snorts. “Hardly. Don’t go getting an ego for something that’s not true.”

“Oh but it is true, you just said it not that long ago. You said that you know I’m amazing at my job and that you know I can introduce the raptors to each other because I look really, really sexy when I’m working and that you like to check out my ass,” Liam drawls, like Louis actually said that and it was some kind of inconvenience to him. “I think you even started drooling a bit as you were talking about it. Probably picturing me in some of those tight little shorts that Harry likes to wear.”

“First of all,” Louis says, holding a finger up in the air as Liam’s face breaks out in a grin, “no, not a chance that I’ve ever uttered any of those words. Second of all, we’ve already established that your butt is small. And finally, I hardly know what you look like when you’re working with the raptors.”

“Then come down and watch me on Monday. We’re doing another search test with them. They really love those.”

“You want me to come down there and see how daddy raptor works?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Liam says, sliding further forward so that his head is resting on Louis’ knees, fingers curling around Louis’ ankle again. “You need to get to know Reign’s big sisters before I let your baby meet them.”

“She’s not my baby,” Louis says, winding his fingers in Liam’s hair and tugging on the strands. “And I have a conference call with Simon on Monday, so I’m a little busy.”

“You could stop by afterwards. We’ll do it after lunch. Are you free after lunch?”

Louis groans, laughing as Liam juts his bottom lip out like he thinks he’s found Louis’ kryptonite. “All right, I’ll come over to the paddock. Now, stop being so desperate for me.”

“You wish I was desperate for you.”

“No, I wish I was sleeping, actually. I’m exhausted,” he says, yawning around the words as he pats Liam’s head. “I should probably head home, it’s late.”

“You should probably stay here.”

“No, I really should be getting back home. I’m so tired, Liam,” Louis whines, pushing at Liam’s fat head, trying to get it off his knee so that he can stand instead of being trapped on the couch like he is. And…well, not really. Louis could easily move Liam’s head if he really wanted to and if he wasn’t feeling so sluggishly lazy.

“You could stay.”

Louis laughs, rubbing at tired eyes that feel like they’re getting heavier the longer that he sits here, like he could close his eyes and fall asleep right here in this very moment. It’s kind of why he really should be getting out of here. “You know people saw you leave my place the other morning. They saw us coming into work together and told Niall about it.”

“Yeah, he mentioned it,” Liam says, yawning as he sits up. “But no one will see you here. They’ll never even know you’ve been here, unless they’re a triceratops that breaks out of her area.”

“I suppose you’re right, no one would know that I was here.”

“Yeah, so stay,” Liam says, standing up from the couch and holding a hand out for Louis. “I’ve got clean pajamas that you can borrow if you want them, clean sheets on my bed, and a spare toothbrush.”

“Oh wow, you sure do know how to get what you want. Just mention that toothbrush,” Louis laughs, allowing himself to be tugged up off the couch. He doesn’t argue when Liam drags him down the hallway and towards his bedroom, he follows him, feet dragging against the floor as he goes.

Liam lets go of him once they reach the bedroom, digging around in his drawers for a fresh shirt and some shorts for Louis to wear. He shakes his head at the shorts, accepting the shirt as he pulls off the one he’s currently wearing.

They get ready for bed together, quickly shedding out of their clothing and in Louis’ case, slipping on a clean shirt. Liam foregoes a shirt and a clean pair of sleep shorts, instead he strides into the bathroom in his boxers and hands Louis the spare toothbrush when he joins him, his stupid abs out on display like he has something to prove to his own bathroom. Or he’s just showing off, which definitely feels a bit more like Liam.

Louis sighs happily once he’s finally lying down in Liam’s bed, body relaxing as it sinks into the mattress. Liam joins him a few moments later, shutting down the rest of the house and locking the doors before he climbs in next to Louis. And because Louis doesn’t even care anymore, he crawls on top of Liam, soaking up his body heat and trying to take up as much of the bed as he can.

Liam doesn’t seem to mind, wrapping an arm around Louis’ back and pressing a kiss to the top of Louis’ head that he does his best to ignore, his eyelids getting heavy to the steady thumping of Liam’s heart.

><

As it turns out, a promise of clean sheets, clean clothes, and a spare toothbrush is all it takes to keep Louis at Liam’s place for the weekend.

It probably takes more than that, but Louis surprises even himself when he agrees to go surfing with Liam on Saturday. It was fun the last time they did it, and Louis wants to better himself. So he does, following Liam into the ocean on his board as the ride the waves into the shore. Louis falls more than he stands, swallows more ocean water than he wants, but it’s worth it.

When his lungs are burning from the water, he finds out that he can get sand in places that annoy the shit out of him for the rest of the weekend when Liam helps him out of his wetsuit and presses him back against the towel they laid out, Louis pinned beneath him as their bodies work together under the afternoon sun.

There had been a brief moment of panic where Louis thought maybe clean sheets and a spare toothbrush wouldn't have been enough because they had sex on the beach – not one of those fruity, bright colored, overpriced drinks that people like to enjoy but actual sex, and not the almost kinds they’ve been having – and Louis isn’t emotionally equipped to deal with that.

But he stays, because he can’t leave, as he washes away the beach and the sand and Liam’s fingerprints on his skin, with his face pressed again Liam’s shoulder, the hot water washing over them as Liam’s lips worked over his cheek and his jaw and his soaking hair. Each kiss an anchor keeping Louis with him for a little while longer.

And in the night, when the moon is hung high in the sky, Louis memorizes the feeling of Liam’s skin beneath his fingers, the sound of his breathing in his ear, until his body shakes and trembles, and everything about it leaves Louis feeling overwhelmed and exhausted in ways he didn’t know were possible, ways that he thinks he’s only ever heard about.

Monday comes with grayed skies and the promise of rain, but mostly it comes with a wave of annoyance that Louis has to dive back into the real world, something he’s been avoiding so well these past few days.

“Are you still going to come down to the paddock later?” Liam asks, slipping on a shirt as he steps into the small bathroom with Louis, reaching over him for his toothbrush.

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure how long my meeting with Simon is going to last.”

“How long do they normally last?”

“Longer than I’d like,” Louis mutters, rubbing at his eyes and wishing that it were any other day of the week. He hasn’t looked at any of the files that he should have this weekend and he’s ill prepared to give Simon a rundown of park operations. “I should be done before eleven, I’d imagine.”

“We’ll do it at two, is that good?” Liam asks, words garbled as he moves a brush around his teeth, toothpaste foaming around the edges of his mouth. Louis frowns at him, trying not to make a face.

“You know, you could do this without me, right?”

Liam shrugs, rinsing his mouth and putting his toothbrush back in the little rack made to look like a palm tree, a gift from one of his sister’s, or so he says anyway. “Could, but don’t really feel like it.”

“Right,” Louis mutters, nodding. “Can you get into work on your own?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be able to?”

“I don’t know, you seem to enjoy using my car as your personal taxi.”

“Yeah, probably because the driver’s so cute,” Liam says, grinning as he strokes his thumb along Louis’ jaw before he pushes off the counter and moves out of the bathroom. “But no, I’ll be all right. Unless you want me to ride in with you.”

“I don’t really care how you get to work as long as you go to work.”

Liam nods as he continues walking, stopping in his bedroom and moving to dig around through some of his drawers for a pair of pants to wear. Louis watches him, propped against the doorway and waiting to hear if Liam wants to ride with him or not as he tugs on a pair of light wash jeans, pulling them up to his waist and then down a little further, settling them just below his hips.

“I think I’ll give myself a ride. I have to stop by the Creation Lab to check on the babies, then I have to help Harry with something before I stop at the paddock, so it’ll probably be for the best if you’re not my chaperone today.”

Louis frowns, pretending to be devastated as he checks the time on his phone once more. He doesn’t have to be at the office for another thirty minutes but he should probably get going soon, if he wants to be prepared for Simon. “Well, if you can find your own way, then I should really get going,” he says, sighing as he tucks his phone away. When he looks up, Liam’s in his space, smiling at him as he nods.

“All right…well,” Liam sighs, stepping closer to Louis, “text me if something comes up and you can’t make it today.”

“I’ll be there, don’t worry about it.”

Liam nods and Louis sighs, pressing up on his toes to give Liam a kiss. He can feel Liam smile against his lips, fingers brushing Louis’ ribs as he winds an arm around him.

Louis pushes the kiss to the back of his mind when he’s at work, sat at his desk and talking about customer satisfaction with Simon and how, while it has gone down, it was only half a percent and that’s not really a cause of concern. Plus, Zayn has been working hard with Caroline on ways to improve on what’s already there. Simon seems pleased with the information, flipping through his own paperwork and asking Louis questions that he has to answer out of his ass because he’s so not prepared for any of this. And though he shouldn’t blame Liam, it really is Liam’s fault and his plump bottom lip, stupid, stupid abs, and whatever magic he casted this weekend to get Louis out of his work.

He’s doing a damn good job of pushing it all out of his mind until Simon asks him about the baby raptors and how they’re doing, if Louis has been keeping a close eye on the situation because Liam seems far too eager to make the introduction, and while Simon trusts him, he doesn’t need him jumping the gun on this kind of thing. Louis has to bite his tongue against defending Liam, because if anyone at this park has any fucking idea what they’re doing at any given moment, it’s Liam, as much as it pains Louis to say.

By the end of the call, Louis is tired and sluggish, resting his head on his desk and counting backwards from thirty before he pulls his body up and stretches, moving to the window and looking down at the park below him. Everything is moving at such a fast pace that Louis gets lost in the sight of it, watching as the monorail comes and goes, large crowds moving around, wanting to take it all in. And they’re why he’s here, because this park runs for them, and will do anything to keep this park going and safe. Mostly for himself, but definitely for them, for the people below that don’t know he’s there.

Two o’clock comes quickly, with Liam greeting Louis at his car, opening the door for him and rushing him inside the raptor paddock like a kid about to show off his favorite new toy. And he is, his face flushed and eyes beaming with pride as he guides Louis towards the paddock. They stop at the foot of a staircase, one that leads to an overhang that allows people to watch the inside of the paddock from overhead.

“You can head up there and watch,” Liam says. “Niall’s up there with a few others, I told him you’d join him when you got here.”

“Niall’s here?”

“Niall’s always here when we do this. He’s only ever missed it if he actually has something to do. I don’t know, but he’s up there and he’s waiting for you.”

“Okay,” Louis says, nodding. He smiles at Liam, patting him on the shoulder as he moves up the stairs, holding onto the railings as he begins to go a little higher, feeling the metal creak and rattle beneath his feet.

When he reaches the top, he finds Niall hanging over one of the bars, and Louis can see that his body is practically vibrating in excitement.

“So this is where you go when you’re supposed to be working,” Louis says, startling Niall.

“Yeah, because it’s the only place I know you’ll never show up,” Niall grins, “until now that is. What’d Liam have to do to get you down here?”

Louis shrugs, scratching the back of his head as he casts his gaze downward, praying to every god and being that there is that his cheeks aren’t pink. Louis isn’t down here because of that, but he knows that Niall can read him like a book better than anyone can.

“He asked me to come down here, figured I might as well see what he’s up to if I’m going to make a decent case at firing him,” Louis lies, making Niall laugh.

“You’re talking shit again, Louis.” Niall claps him on the back, throwing an arm over Louis’ shoulder and jostling him a bit before he lets go, holding onto the bars and looking back down into the paddock.

Down on the ground below, four raptors break out in a run, chasing after something that Louis didn’t see and disappearing into the thick trees below. Liam waits for them behind a steel cage, hands gripping the bars as he waits for the raptors return. It only takes a few seconds, but they’re back, running passed him until he shouts out at them, screaming their names until they approach the gate, loud chirping noises escaping their mouths as he waves food in front of them.

The raptors attention is strictly on Liam, watching him intently and waiting for his next command. Louis is amazed at how well they follow them, bowing their heads when he instructs them to, each of them waiting for their turns to grab a bite to eat. Liam has them running again, calling out something that Louis can’t hear and having them running to the other side of the paddock as the cage door opens. And like a fool, Liam steps out into the area with them, back to the cage door as he motions for the raptors to approach now.

Liam glances up at Louis briefly, sparing him a smile before turning his attention back to the raptors. He slowly reaches into a bag attached to his side, pulling out another bit of food and tossing it to the raptors.

Louis can’t take his eyes off him, because Liam is an idiot. He’s standing inside of the paddock with four raptors; four dinosaurs that could hurt him if they wanted to, could kill him if they wanted to. The raptors are pretty good about keeping a safe distance between them and Liam, but Louis can tell from up here that without the food, they’d love to chase him around the paddock and hurt him.

And maybe he’s projecting his fears onto these dinosaurs, he’s not sure, but he knows that the sight of Liam inside of the paddock with them sets every single one of his nerves on end, makes his stomach clench in fear.

Louis hears himself gasp as Liam sends three of the raptors away, slowly approaching Blue. He reaches out slowly, palm held up as Blue chirps at him, sounds audible even from a distance. Liam pets her, hand gliding down her nose before he presses his face against hers.

“He’s crazy, isn’t he?” Niall says and Louis nods, wide eyes unable to leave Liam because he’s got his face pressed against a dinosaur like it’s a Golden Retriever.

“It’s like he wants to get hurt or something. What the fuck is he doing?”

“He’s doing his job. You pay him for this, remember?”

“No, I’m afraid that I don’t pay him to risk his life like a fucking moron. Oh god,” Louis laughs, shaking his head. “I’m going to rip into him after that. It’s one thing if he wants to get himself killed for fun, but it’s another thing to invite me here to watch it. Unbelievable.”

“Huh,” Niall mutters and Louis frowns at the sound of his voice, tearing his eyes away when Liam is safely away from Blue, tossing her a bit of food.

“What?”

“When did this happen?” Niall asks, voice laced with curiosity, as his head tilts to the side, an odd look on his face.

“What?” Louis repeats, looking at Niall before he casts a quick glance back to Liam to make sure that he’s not missing an arm or a leg or even worse, everything.

“You two, when did this happen?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Louis mutters, frowning when he looks back at Niall.

Niall has a smug look on his face, smirking to himself as he folds his arms over his chest. “Oh come off it, Louis. This little crush of yours, when did it happen?”

Louis shakes his head, scoffing, because Niall is…Niall is totally wrong. It’s almost absurd how awfully he’s read this situation. Louis is worried about him, sure, but that’s—well, it’s a few things, actually, but it’s not that. The very last thing Louis wants in this world is to have one of his employees killed because they’re idiots and they enjoy taking stupid risks that endanger their lives.

There’s a lot of things that Louis understands about himself, like his need to keep the park running and safe, his ability to lose himself completely into his job, so much so that he forgets who he is sometimes, but he’s getting it back. He’s been getting himself back, finding that little place inside of himself that he forgot about a long time ago when he shoved it aside, the fun part that was able to forget about work and responsibility and have a good time. The part of him that had friends and a life, the part that felt something, the part that Niall, Zayn, Harry, and Liam brought out.

If he were to look at the situation objectively, then he can admit Liam has worked the hardest at bringing Louis out of his shell, at getting Louis to open up. That much Louis can admit, because it’s been Liam that drags him out late at night after Louis hasn’t had the greatest day to show him a good time. And it’s been Liam that’s been there with Louis, keeping him from locking himself away all the time.

And Louis…is grateful for that. And he’s…happy with what’s been going on in his life, even if it’s been with Liam, someone he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be around when he didn’t have to be.

And well, that seems like a sign enough, doesn’t it?

Louis is so, so stupid. And Niall is so, so right.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Louis stammers out, throat feeling tight, “but I’m going to let you go since you’re always talking some kind of shit.” He turns away from Niall, white knuckling the railing as he stares down into the paddock, breath coming in quick gasps because this isn’t…none of this was supposed to happen.

Louis can hear his heart beating in his ears, pounding rhythmically and threatening to spill out of his chest and onto the floor. It’s all too much and he feels like he needs to flee, like he needs to get in his car and drive to the edge of the ocean and throw himself over the side, let the waves wash over him so he can breathe properly because he can’t do that here, not with everything that’s happening.

Louis’ phone rings in his pocket, capturing the attention of Liam and the raptors down below. He winces as he takes out it, seeing that Simon is calling him again.

“I have to go take care of this,” Louis announces, silencing the call so he can rush off without the raptors doing anything wild.

“Louis, are you all right?” Niall calls after him and Louis ignores him, hitting accept on his phone and bringing it to his ear as he rushes down the stairs.

><

Escaping the raptor paddock and fleeing to his apartment wasn’t on his schedule for today, but Louis could give a damn about schedule. There are people hired to do things for him, they’ll figure out how to run the damn park for one fucking day without him. For once in his life (or his life at Jurassic World), Louis needs to have a moment to himself so he can properly freak the fuck out.

There’s panic in his veins, Louis can feel it, along with a deep pressure in his gut, one that’s weighing him down and making it feel like he’s sinking with absolutely nothing to hold onto.

Louis doesn’t even know what to do with himself, other than to throw himself onto his bed that he hasn’t seen in days and toss the blankets over his eyes. Liam has absolutely ruined his life, in almost every way imaginable.

It was just a one time thing between, just one time where they blew off a little steam, helped each other out in ways that people sometimes do. Just a one-time thing that Louis never knew he wanted or needed.

But it was never really a one-time thing, was it, because it kept happening. They kept kissing and touching, they slept together in a way that Louis has never imagined he would with Liam. They’ve slept at each other’s houses. For god’s sake, Louis has some of Liam’s clothes folded neatly on top of his dresser that he washed for him. And Liam has worn Louis’ clothes to work…god, Louis is wearing Liam’s clothes right now, right down to his boxers.

Louis has seen Liam naked, he knows what he sounds like, what he tastes like, and that’s more than anyone else at the park can say, Louis is sure. It’s more than Zayn can say about Harry and they were actually dating, to some degree. Minus the total lack of communication. But they went out on dates, something that Liam and Louis skipped out on entirely, jumping right into everything else, it would seem.

Louis wallows in bed for several hours before there’s a knock at his door, soft and tentative. Louis opens it without looking, blankets wrapped around his shoulders as he allows Liam entry. He should have ignored it, should have let him stand out there so that Louis can panic in peace, but he doesn’t, because he’s a fool.

“Is everything all right?” Liam asks, following Louis into the living room where Louis drops down on the couch. “Niall said you got a call and you had to leave, said you looked pretty upset.”

“I’m fine,” Louis mutters, stretching an arm out from under the blankets to turn on the television, switching the channel to something mindless and boring.

“That’s good to know,” Liam says, smiling. “I brought dinner. I was under the assumption that you were less than fine, so I thought I’d cheer you up.”

“Yeah, all right.”

“I’ll run and grab some plates.”

Louis simply nods, unable and unwilling to say anything else. Liam is being nice and considerate, and these are the stupid things that got Louis where he is in the first place. And he’s trying to have a crisis about it all, so it’d be really great if Liam could just stop doing things like bring Louis dinner because he thinks he’s upset about something. He’s not. Or well, he is, but Liam doesn’t need to know about it.

“There was Chinese in the worker cafeteria, so I grabbed some up for you. Or we have…uh, lemme see, oh yeah, some alfredo with chicken. I’m perfectly happy with either, but I thought I’d give you a choice, since I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for.”

“Chinese is fine,” Louis tells him, eyes still trained on the television. He can see Liam nodding, a confused expression on his face as he passes Louis the to-go container. “Thanks.”

Liam doesn’t question Louis on how short he’s being with him, even though he wants to, Louis can tell that much. Instead he settles back against the couch, popping open his container and watching the most atrocious show on television that Louis could have stumbled upon. Honestly, there’s a lot of shit on TV but Louis had to land on this.

“Are you sure everything's all right?”

“It’s fine. Why?”

“Um…well, we’re watching a show about, and I could be wrong, but it seems like all of these people are suffering some kind of heartbreak.”

“Yes, I can see that, Liam,” Louis sighs, grabbing the remote and tossing it to Liam. “You can change it, if you’d like, if it’s such a big deal to you, Liam.”

“All right,” Liam mutters, taking the remote and muting the television. He sets his to-go box on the table and turns to look at Louis. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Louis, come on,” Liam sighs, shaking his head. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but this feels like it’s directed towards me, and if that’s the case, then I’d like to know what I did wrong to have you feel this way.”

Louis rolls his eyes because god, that’s such a Liam thing to do, to care about what Louis is thinking and feeling. Louis wishes that he would take that and just…take that and just leave for a while. “Who asked you to care, Liam?” Louis asks, glaring as he stabs his fork into a piece of shrimp. “Because I definitely didn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re angry because I care? I don’t understand. What am I caring about that has you so upset?”

Louis scoffs, chewing on his shrimp thoughtfully because it’s not so much what he’s caring about, just that he’s doing it at all and Louis is tired of it. He’s exhausted by it. But it’s not just that, there are loads of things that are bothering Louis right now.

“Louis, come on. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but…I don’t know-- Can I have a better idea of what’s going on?”

“Did you know that I don’t even find you annoying anymore? Not in this moment, but in general. Did you know that? That you don’t annoy me?”

“I…didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, it’s true. You don’t annoy me anymore.”

Liam nods, wetting his lips. “Well, I can see your dilemma.”

And god, he’s doing it again. He’s being patient and understanding and Louis can’t stand it. He wants to throw his to-go box across the room and see what Liam will say about that. He doesn’t, of course, because he’s not going to waste food. But he’s also just…ugh. Louis wants to scream, he wants to shout because this isn’t the way things were supposed to go.

Louis wasn’t supposed to care about Liam, he wasn’t supposed to feel anything towards him other than sheer annoyance but that’s not how it is anymore. Liam knocked down his walls and Louis has no one to blame but himself, because Liam didn’t even really knock them down, he chipped at them, one small brick by small brick, gently easing his way into Louis’ life until Louis was consumed by him, until everything became about Liam.

“You know we’re not anything,” Louis says, because he’s an idiot and he doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. “It was all just a one-time thing. You know that, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Liam asks, frowning, brows pulled so close together that it looks like there’s only one of them. Louis fights back the urge to smooth his thumb along the wrinkled skin, to crawl into Liam’s lap and lie to him, tell him that he doesn’t know why he said that. But he can’t do that, because his body feels like it’s on fire with wild energy and it’s like he’s suffocating under the weight of the fact that he likes Liam.

“Us,” he clarifies. “Not like there ever was an us, but yeah. We’re not like, a thing.”

Liam’s face crumbles for half a second, just a split second before he pulls himself together. But the frown is still there, maybe not on his face, but definitely in Louis’ mind. And it aches, to know he did that. It aches to know that Louis is the person making Liam look like he’s just lost something very important to him.

And when did this happen? When did Louis start caring about how he makes Liam feel? When did he start to care about if one of the dinosaurs is going to eat Liam, outside of a legal standpoint, because really, the paperwork on that would be a nightmare, and Simon would kill him. He can handle injuries, the park is equipped to handle injuries, there’s enough first aid centers around the park to prove that fact, but Louis…

The fear of Liam being hurt by one of the dinosaurs today was almost crippling, he could feel it wrapping around him like smoke after a fire, thick and heavy, suffocating him.

That’s when it all became a problem, he thinks irrationally, when he started to care about Liam’s well being and the fact his job is dangerous.

“So this was all just a one-time thing,” Liam says, voice quiet and soft. “And it wasn’t supposed to happen more than the once?”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen more than once,” Louis repeats. “That’s what I do, Liam. I date someone once and then that’s it, it’s done. It’s over with and they don’t want to see me again. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

“Wait. I’m confused,” Liam mutters, blinking. “First you’re saying that this is a one-time thing, and now you’re saying that you only date someone once. So what were we? Were we dating or were we a one time thing?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about what you said, Louis. You said this stuff happens. You said you date someone once and they’re done with you, so what does that have to do with me? When did you decide that I was done with you,” Liam asks, shrugging when Louis looks at him. “I’ve never, not once, indicated anything like that, Louis, so what’s going on?”

“That’s how this is supposed to be, Liam. We were supposed to be a one-time thing and then… I don’t know,” Louis cries, shrugging as he drops his Chinese down on the table. “You were supposed to be done with me.”

“Are you expecting me to apologize because that’s not what happened? Or are you pissed because I’m not some ex of yours that obviously treated you like shit.”

“You should go,” Louis says because Liam is being reasonable and he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t want to deal with it right now. He just wants him to leave him alone, because he’s supposed to be wallowing and Liam isn’t letting him do that. “You need to go home, Liam.”

“You’re throwing me out? Louis, I really think we need to talk about this.”

“And I really think you need to go. Just…please just go,” Louis begs, turning his face away from Liam so he doesn’t have to see him frown. It’s probably irrational, some of the way he’s acting and feeling, but he can’t help it. And he doesn’t know how he could.

Liam takes Louis’ silence for what it is, refusal to continue the conversation any longer, so with a nod, he stands, leaving his to-go box on the table and leaving Louis’ apartment without another word. It’s the Liam thing to do, to respect Louis’ wishes, and leave without arguing his case to Louis.

And because Louis is a coward, he ignores Liam. He ignores Harry and Niall and Zayn too. He switches Zayn’s schedule around so he’s no longer shadowing Louis at all, but instead working solely with Caroline. He instructs her to prepare him to go off on his own, assuring her that he trusts her to teach Zayn everything he needs. And he finds someone else to go down to Gentle Giants when Harry needs him, and asks a security tech in a lower rank to meet Niall when he calls and claims to need help with the repairs to the Pachy Arena. Louis has seen the sketches and he’s talked to Niall about it enough to know that he’ll be able to figure it out on his own. Because any assistance that requires Louis Tomlinson to bring his ass out of the office, isn’t assistance that he feels like giving.

It’s a full week of ignoring them, and while he’s not proud of himself, he dives back into his work. He catches up on paperwork that he’s neglected lately and schedules meetings with potential sponsors and investors, does anything and everything he can to keep himself busy.

And it’s fine. He doesn’t think about being bored or lonely, doesn’t think about how it’d be nice if he had someone, if he had absolutely anyone around to keep him company, because why should he? He’s the one who put himself in this position. He’s the one that pushed them all away, just like he should have known he’d do.

Because well, it’s like he said all along, it’s just a one-time thing. Not even with Liam, but with all of them. Life is just easier when he’s alone, when he’s not bogged down with feelings for someone else. For one person in particular, really, one person that’s making Louis’ chest ache in the worst way possible. Though, if he’s being honest with himself, he’s the only one making his chest ache.

><

A week of avoiding everyone is too much for everyone else, Louis finds out, when Zayn storms into his office. It surprises him, far more than it should, to see Zayn standing in front of him, arms folded over his chest and glaring down at Louis.

Louis, to his credit, thought he was having a meeting with Caroline. She had called him the day before, asked if they could meet and discuss a few things. He was wary, but he agreed. Now, now he realizes that there was a very big reason to be wary. Not big, since Zayn’s not that big of a guy, but still.

Louis feels like he’s being ambushed.

“Is there any point in asking where Caroline is?” Louis asks, staring down at his phone and scrolling through emails. He’s trying really hard to remain unbothered, to look like he doesn’t really care that Zayn’s here.

“She’s probably in her office, I don’t know.”

“I take it she won’t be making our meeting.”

“You never had a meeting.”

Louis nods, clicking open an email with a coupon for thirty percent off the candles his mom likes. He could buy her some as a surprise gift, something to let her know that he’s thinking about her and misses her.

“Are you really going to sit there and act like I’m not here?” Zayn asks, to which Louis shrugs, fighting the urge to spin his chair around and put his back to Zayn. If he wanted to be really immature, he could roll his chair up to the corner and shove his face in it, block Zayn out entirely. “All right. Fair play. I’ll just sit here and pretend like you’re not there, let you…or no, this office know what’s been going on in my life since the person not here has decided to leave it, for whatever reason.”

Louis sighs, setting his phone back down on his desk and does turn his chair away from Zayn. Not fully though, instead he shifts so he’s facing his computer instead of Zayn, riffling through the same emails that he was just looking at on his phone.

“Right. So what happened the last time I didn’t talk to anyone in this room? Oh yeah, the Harry thing. Well,” Zayn sighs, leaning back in the chair across from Louis, running his fingers through his hair. “I hid from him for a while. Was a bit embarrassed about assuming we were on dates when we weren’t.

“It felt really juvenile of me, because I had such a huge crush on him like I was back in school or something. And I was too scared to clarify the truth with him about what we were doing, about what we were, so I was embarrassed about the whole thing,” Zayn says, and Louis can see him shake his head as he stares at the candle ad on his desktop, fingers tapping idly against his keyboard like he’s actually doing something besides listening to every word that Zayn is saying.

“You want to hear the funny part?” Zayn asks, chuckling under his breath as he stares up at the ceiling. “Harry had thought we were going on dates in the beginning, but then I never like, made any moves on him, so he just assumed that he read it wrong.”

“A lot of people want to date Harry,” Louis says, voice kept low as he stares at his computer screen.

“Yeah, I figured that out,” Zayn mumbles and Louis can hear the smile in his voice because he got Louis to talk.

“Loads of people have,” Louis mutters, shaking his head. He’s seen more people than he can count fall under Harry’s charm, so Louis finds it just the slightest bit amusing that for once it was Harry confused on if he was dating someone or not. “Nice to know he was the confused one for once.”

“We were both confused,” Zayn admits with a shrug. “But we’ve figure it out now.”

“Yeah? And what’s the verdict?”

“We’re picking up where we left off...well, without him scheduling dates with other people.” Zayn smiles as he says it, his face splitting with a grin so bright that Louis has to look away, because he looks happy, so happy. And someone deserves to be, he reckons.

“What has you grinning like that?”

“I kissed him. It was…not my best moment, since I’m pretty sure I threw myself on him, but like. Well, I can’t have him getting confused again, can I?”

Louis smiles, laughing at the look on Zayn’s face, at the pure joy and elation etched in the lines around his eyes and his mouth. “Good job on that,” he says, laughing when Zayn twirls his fingers around in the air in mock celebration.

“Yeah, good job me. But what about good job you. You know, I was going to say good job Lou, but I thought, no, that rhymes. Turns out, so does good job you,” Zayn says, shaking his head. “Huh. Anyway, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“I don’t know… I thought maybe you could tell me that.”

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you,” Louis says, breathing out nervously as he moves back towards his computer. He blinks at the screen, shaky hands attached to the mouse as he slowly begins the process of powering down the computer.

Zayn waits patiently, which makes everything that much worse for Louis. He doesn’t know what to tell him. He doesn’t know what he wants. He’s happy for him, he really is, but talking about himself wasn’t anything that he wanted or needed in his schedule. But Zayn’s not going to leave any time soon, not unless Louis calls security on him and has him forcibly removed. And that…well, he’s not positive, but he’s pretty sure that he shouldn’t throw someone out of his office by force that he was once friends with. Still friends with. Something like that.

“Louis,” Zayn says, voice flat and a tiny bit exasperated. The screen on Louis’ computer is black, forcing Louis to stare at his reflection. “Come on, man. Niall told me about you and Liam, that you were a thing.”

“Yeah? Good to know that he’s still the park gossip.”

“He’s not gossiping, Lou. We’ve been worried about you. It’s been a week since you’ve spoken to anyone.”

“I’m aware of that fact, yes. However, I am not aware of when that meant my business was allowed to become everyone else’s business.”

“Maybe because we’re your friends, or we were at least, and we were worried about you. I had no idea what was going on with you, neither did Harry,” Zayn explains, sighing when Louis rolls his eyes. “Niall said that he had an idea about it, and when Liam told Niall to shut up before he stormed off like a preteen – minus the door slam, because we were at lunch – we knew something was up.”

“That still doesn’t give him any right.”

“To what? And right to what, worry about you? Because that’s all he was doing. So how about instead of blaming Niall for being a decent friend -something you could take note on, by the way - you tell me what’s going on. Just talk to me, Louis. Please. That’s all I want. I just want to know that you’re okay,” Zayn says, voice taking on a sadder note that makes Louis frown. He hadn’t meant to make any of them worry. He really didn’t think they would. “I don’t even need the big details, just give me some of the small ones.”

Louis sighs, nodding, because he can do that. He should do that. “It wasn’t anything.”

“Right,” Zayn mutters, wetting his lips as he leans back in his chair. “You know, when Niall told us about you two, I felt like I should have been surprised, since you tried so hard to hide it from us, but it really wasn’t all that shocking.”

Louis rolls his eyes, unable to stop the reaction. “Yeah? What gave us away?”

“Everything. But mostly the way you two acted around each other. It sounds weird, I know,” Zayn laughs when Louis pulls a face, because really? The way they acted around each other. “At first I really did think you hated him, or disliked him a bit, anyway. But then…I don’t know, there was a tenderness there that was hard to miss.”

“Tender. Right.”

“No, I’m being serious. You just…just trust me on that one.”

“I’ll uh, trust you, but not too sure that I can believe you.”

“Well, if you can’t believe the tenderness, then I’m sure you can believe the part about you two going on secret dates without everyone else around.”

Louis blinks, tongue like lead in his mouth as he struggles to come up with some kind of remark to defend himself because that is just not true. They’ve never been on a date. Liam has never asked and Louis has never accepted. Nor has he asked, because why would he? It wasn’t until Niall opened his big mouth that Louis realized what it all looked like, what it all felt like. He was fine until then.

Zayn cocks an eyebrow at him, waiting, and Louis sighs, shrugging. “That’s not a thing anymore.”

“What is?”

“Secret dates, or whatever Niall told you they were. Though, I’m not even sure how he found out about those, but whatever. Liam’s big mouth can be dealt with another time.”

“Louis…I hate to break it you, but when it comes to Niall, your secrets aren’t even safe with even the dinosaurs. He’ll figure them out eventually.”

“There weren’t any secrets. And there won’t be anymore.”

Zayn nods, pensive as he taps his fingers against his check, watching Louis intently. “Did something happen between you two? Is that why,” Zayn sighs, rubbing his face. “Is that why you’re avoiding everyone? Is that why there aren’t going to be anymore secret dates?”

Louis laughs lightly, bitterly, as he shakes his head. “It was never anything. Never. Everyone just made it out to be something more than what it was, more than they should have.”

“So nothing happened.”

It’s not a question but Louis nods anyway, because he wants to make this point perfectly clear. He needs someone to believe him, even if he’s struggling to believe himself. “Nothing happened,” he confirms.

Zayn just nods, dropping his hands down to his lap with an air of finality. “Okay then. If you want me to believe that, then I will. I do. And I’ll leave you alone about it.”

“Thanks,” Louis tells him, offering him a half smile. “And…I’m sorry about avoiding you this week. I wasn’t trying to.”

“You were.”

Louis laughs, nodding his head a few times. “Yeah, I was. But I didn’t expect you to—“

“Notice?”

“Care, actually. I didn’t expect you to care.”

Zayn hums, frowning at Louis a little sadly. Louis shrugs in response, because what can he do? Nothing. It’s the truth and that’s what Zayn wants, isn’t it?

Louis phone sounds from on his desk, the annoying preset ring bounces off the walls and fills the quiet left from Louis’ confession. There hasn’t been a call placed to his desk phone in a while, so he frowns, hitting the speaker button and speaking his greeting.

“Louis, this is Martie at First Aid center number four, we need you to come down here immediately.”

“What’s going on?” He asks, looking up to frown at Zayn and Louis thinks the concern on his face must mirror his own, because Louis doesn’t usually get calls from the First Aid centers. The medical personnel at the park are some of the few that are able to do their job without needing their hand held.

“There’s been a bit of an emergency, someone’s been hurt.”

“What happened?” Louis asks, voice firm.

“I really don’t know. Dr. Exton asked me to call you and tell you to come down here. One of the raptors got Liam,” she says, voice frantic as people begin shouting behind her.

And like an avalanche coming down the side of a mountain, Louis’ world crashes down on him.

><

Zayn drives to the first aid center where Liam is. Louis put up a fight about that, gripping onto his keys as Zayn struggled to yank them out of his grasp before pushing him to the passenger side of the car. Louis remembers nodding when Zayn said that it was for the best and that he’d get them there, as long as Louis could tell him which way it is.

The drive there took longer than necessary, in Louis’ opinion. Tourists were everywhere, blocking some of their paths as Louis fought against hanging out of the window and screaming at them to get out of the way. But it’s almost like he’s paralyzed, pinned down by fear and panic as they navigate through the winding roads that’ll take them there.

Zayn’s murmuring things to him from the driver’s side, reassurances that are meant to be comforting. They’re not. All they do is make Louis’ worries worse, but he can’t say that. Zayn’s only trying to help and Liam is his friend too, so the fear that’s bubbling in Louis’ chest must be there in Zayn’s.

It’s comforting to know that he’s not alone in this, that Zayn is here and he cares about Liam in the same way that Louis does.

Outside of the first aid center, there are no signs that anything is happening. Louis all but falls out of his car in his rush to get inside, moving like he’s on autopilot into the small building. There’s a few people inside the main room, tourists waiting to see someone. One of them has a skinned knee from the Cretaceous Cruise nearby, probably from falling out of their kayak or canoe and hitting their knee on a rock below the water. Or maybe they’re just an all around rule break and tried to climb some of the trees to drop down into the stream like Louis knows they tend to do.

A nurse tries to rush past him and Louis stops her, stepping in front of her and staring down at her. “What’s going on with Liam?”

“I don’t—“

“What is going on with Liam? What happened?”

“I don’t know the details, I haven’t been working with him,” she says and Louis’ eyes scan down to her nametag, Kelly. “All I know is that we got a call about twenty minutes ago that said he was being rushed in and we needed to make room for him. Then he was here, pretty bloody and being lead into the back.”

“Is he in the back?”

“Yeah, but Louis you can’t—“

Louis ignores her as he heads towards a door that he remembers leading to the back. It might lead to a private room, which is fine, because they have rooms that lead into the back. Either way, Louis is getting back there to figure out what’s going on.

He runs into a group of people, a group of nurses that look surprised to see him, all of them turning to look at him. None of them try and stop him as he starts opening door after door after door, checking inside each of the rooms as Zayn finally catches up with him, asking the group of nurses for information.

A small woman with short red hair points towards a door on the other side of the room, silently letting Louis know where Liam is. He offers her a nod in thanks before he pushes the door open, breathing out slowly as it swings open.

Liam is there, perched on top of a bed that’s folded up, allowing him to sit in a reclined state. His shirt is off, chest exposed and red, his golden skin hidden under a bloody mess that makes Louis’ breath catch in his throat. He makes a choked noise, causing Liam’s head to snap in his direction, wincing either from the movement or from seeing Louis, he’s not sure.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Liam tells him, hand wrapping protectively over one of the wounds. “It’s really not.”

Louis’ skin prickles in anger at that because it’s exactly as bad as it looks, with gashes down his side, right over the scars that Louis has traced a million times before. He’s still bleeding maybe, Louis can’t tell, but he’s holding a cloth to his chest and wincing from time to time.

“You don’t get to lie to me right now,” Louis says, moving closer to Liam, unable to take his eyes off the red on his skin. “You’re bleeding.”

“Yeah, it happens sometimes.”

“Liam,” Louis snaps, voice sharp and shaking, “you’re bleeding.”

The anger washes over him like the waves on the shore they surfed on, crashing down with brute force and spreading out over the land, seeping into every grain of sand, penetrating through the layers of the Earth. Louis can feel the white-hot emotion vibrating down to his very core, the flames of madness licking at his skin, and the sight of Liam is only fuel to the fire.

Louis knew that he was an idiot, that Liam was a damn fool when it came to the dinosaurs. He knew that, he did. He’s been saying it for ages, he’s been trying to convince everyone else that Liam was an idiot, even if he did know what he was doing when it came to understanding dinosaur behavior.

And even if he did know what he was doing, Liam still liked to play god with these dinosaurs. He still risked his life with them everyday, making stupid decisions like walking into the raptor paddock and pressing his head against something which was extinct millions of years ago that scientists who enjoy playing god brought back to life. And nothing good ever came from playing god, the other parks are perfect examples of that. They were reckless and thought themselves invincible, which is just like Liam.

Liam is reckless and he’s a damn fool for thinking that he’d never get hurt. He’s not Superman or some other superhero out there in the world that’s not affected by much of anything. He’s a normal fucking person and bad things can happen to him. But to act like they’re nothing? To act like the wounds on his body are nothing is absolutely ridiculous. He’s bleeding.

Liam is bleeding. There is blood on his body and it shouldn’t be there, it should be inside of him. That’s nothing. The blood pumping through Liam’s veins, that blood is nothing. This blood…Louis can’t stand the sight of it.

“You’re hurt,” Louis says, and maybe if he says it out loud then it’ll stop being a mantra in his head.

“Just a little bit,” Liam says, breathing out slowly as he drops his head back to rest on the chair. “They gave me something that, if I’m lucky, will be kicking in soon.”

“If you’re lucky,” Louis repeats, voice low and careful. “If you’re lucky? Liam. This isn’t lucky. None of this is because of luck.”

“Louis, it’s fine. I know it doesn’t look like it, but it is. It’s a few scratches. It’s like…those small superficial cuts that always bleed the most, isn’t it?”

“Uh, no. Not really, Liam. And these aren’t small and superficial. They’re large and gaping. I can see your intestines from over here.”

“Louis,” Liam laughs, tilting his head to the side to smile at him. “You’re being overdramatic, it’s really no big deal.”

“No big deal? No big deal?” Louis repeats, scoffing to himself as he begins to pace, striding across the floor in front of Liam and glaring at him. “You have some fucking nerve, Liam Payne. No big deal. You were attacked by raptors. Do you understand what that means?”

“I know exactly what it means, Louis. In case you can’t tell, it’s me that’s sitting in this chair, not you. I know what happened to me, I’m just telling you that’s not that big of a deal so let’s please not turn it into one,” Liam says, eyes following Louis’ movements. “You’re shaking.”

“Yes. I am. I’m shaking because it’s taking everything in me not to jump across this room and punch you in your nose,” Louis huffs, tugging at his hair in frustration. “What the hell were you doing when this happened, huh? Were you down in that paddock with your face shoved in their mouth again? Is that what you were doing?”

“Contrary to what you might believe, none of this is my fault.”

“Oh that’s rich, you lying sack of shit.”

“I’m not lying. You can ask any person that works in that paddock, any person that was there today, and they’ll tell you that it wasn’t my fault.”

“Right. Okay, so then whose fault was it?”

“Calvin’s,” Liam says and Louis’ feet stop moving as his head quickly snaps in Liam’s direction. Calvin, he remembers him from before, the guy that had Liam screaming outside of the paddock.

“What happened?” Louis asks, ceasing his pacing but not wanting to step any closer to Liam, not yet. Not until he knows what happened.

“I really don’t know,” Liam says, shrugging one of his shoulders, the good one, the one that’s not on his injured side. “We were getting ready to let them out for a run, just their own, not any kind of drill or anything, but we were still going to toss them food through commands, shouting their names to make sure that they know who the food goes to. Everything was fine, we were tossing food to the raptors, taking turns shouting their names, then we heard the gate opening and saw Calvin standing there, ready to enter the paddock.

“I ran as fast I could, skipping steps on my way down, all of us rushing to try and get to the button to close the gate before he could do something stupid,” Liam explains, pulling the bloody cloth away from his chest and tossing it to the side, the cloth landing with a thud on the metal table next to the bed turned chair that Liam’s on. “He was cocky. He thought that he could do it, thought that he could waltz right into that paddock and mess around with a bunch of fucking raptors.”

“Sounds familiar,” Louis mutters bitterly, low enough that Liam can’t hear him.

“I don’t know what he did, I don’t. There’s a portion where I was completely in the dark, right before I reached the cage, and by the time I had gotten there, I could tell Betty was getting worked up. Blue was huffing, loud aggressive noises, warnings, basically,” Liam says, shaking his head. “I just wanted to get him out of there, I just wanted to fix it, but it was… It’s better that it was me,” Liam says, nodding firmly, making Louis want to rip his own shoe off and throw it at Liam’s head. “It’s better that it was me that this happened to than someone else.”

“No, it shouldn’t have been you,” Louis corrects. “Where’s Calvin now?”

“I fired him. The one thing I screamed at him before they took me down here.”

“Great. Just great,” Louis mumbles, throwing his hands up in the air. “So you decide to get yourself torn up and now you’re leaving me with a bunch of paperwork to take care of. Do you think about anyone besides yourself? Really, do you? Anyone at all besides Liam Payne.”

“Yeah, actually, I do. Do you think about anyone besides Louis Tomlinson?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I happen to think a lot about the fact that you’re lying in some first aid center bed, with blood all over your fucking body, because you dove into a dinosaur fight,” Louis shouts. “I happen to think a fucking lot about that. I also happen to think about the fact that you could have gotten yourself killed, all for some fucking moron who had it coming. I think about that.”

Louis thinks a lot about what’s happening right now, and he thinks even more of having to see Liam like this. The image is burning into his memory, branding itself onto his brain, everywhere that it can so he can never forget.

Louis is never going to forget this, he’s going to have nightmares about finding Liam in this situation, finding him in other situations where he hadn’t been so lucky. It’s rips at his insides, scratching and tugging, threatening to destroy him, because he can’t take it. He can’t take the sight of Liam like this, it makes him feel physically ill, like he needs one of these first aid beds too.

The worry is so intense that it’s crippling, wrapping around him so tightly that he can hardly breathe. And Liam is looking at him like he’s trying to reassure him that he’s okay, that everything is fine, but it’s not. It’s not okay at all.

“Louis, I’m fi—“

“If you say that you’re fine one more time, I’m going to scream. You are not okay. You’re not fine. You’re not all right. You’re not well, you’re not good, you’re not great, and you’re not amazing. You’re hurt,” Louis says, voice cracking as he says it. “You’re hurt and I’m not supposed to care, okay? I’m not. I’m not supposed to give a shit about that fact, but I do, okay? I do. I care about the fact that you’re lying there, sitting there, whatever, with blood—Liam. You’re bleeding.

“And I would have never cared about this before. Never. Not even once would I have cared about this, I probably would have fed the raptors three dinosaurs of their choice if they could get you out of my hair for one second,” Louis rants, panting as the words pour out of his mouth faster than he can process them. “But now I care. Now I care and it’s so fucking stupid of me, isn’t it? You don’t care. You don’t give a shit at all that you’re ripped open and hurt.”

Louis is back to pacing the floor, near hysterics because he’s so mad. He’s so angry and he wants to wring Liam’s neck, he wants to grab first aid supplies and throw them at him, one after another, and then he wants to scream. He wants to scream until his throat hurts, until his voice shakes from anything other than the ache inside of his chest. But he can’t, because he needs Liam to understand that he’s not okay, that he’s hurt and he’s in the first aid center because of a raptor attack.

Fingers curl around Louis’ wrist, ceasing his pacing and forcing him to stop. He stares down at the floor, breathing harshly as Liam’s thumb brushes against his wrist bone.

“Look at me,” Liam says soothingly, voice low as he waits for Louis to lift his head up and look at him. “It really is okay, Louis. It’s just stitches, that’s all.”

Louis looks at him and then finally glances down to the wounds along his chest and ribs, lines formed from razor sharp claws designed to kill. He doesn’t touch, even though he wants to, wants to be able to feel that everything is still together. There are little black bits of thread keeping the wounds together, and from this distance, Louis can see that most of the blood is old and dried, no longer shiny except in certain places.

Liam’s alive and he’s breathing, making it out of a raptor attack with injuries that don’t make sense. He shouldn’t—it shouldn’t be like this, but it is, and Louis chokes on the thought of what could have been, what could have happened, and he can feel the panic and the surge of emotion so intense that he thinks his knees could buckle.

He has to get out of here. He has to—Louis shakes his head, wiping at his eyes before he turns, shoving open the door that he came from and nearly hitting Zayn in the face.

Nurses try to talk to him on his way out, but he ignores them, ignores the doctor and Zayn, all of them trying to get his attention, to get something from him and out of him that he doesn’t want to talk about. He doesn’t want to deal with right now because Liam is hurt and no one seems to understand that fact. Everyone else seems fine, like they can go on with their lives knowing that he’s hurt and in pain, knowing that there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Louis can’t. He just can’t, so he gets into his car and he drives.

He drives as far as he can, car bouncing on the dirt roads with how fast he’s going, almost fast enough to be reckless, as his thoughts shift from one image of Liam to another, all of them the same, him hurt and on the first aid examination bed.

Louis makes it as far as the ocean before he can’t drive any longer, because he’s on an island, and of fucking course the world isn’t on his side with this. So he gets out of his car, stumbling his way to the beach where he collapses on the ground, knees buckling into the sand as he cries.

There’s not waterworks, not uncontrollable hysterics, just tears rolling down his cheeks from emotions too strong, emotions that he can’t understand. And he needs it, he needs to get out the bubble of feelings before he explodes and does something reckless. Louis is embarrassed by the tears, but eventually, like all tears, they stop, drying to his skin and making his eyes burn.

And instead of crying, Louis focuses on the ocean. The waves roll in effortlessly, just like they always do, making Louis breathe a little easier. The ocean is strong and reliable, always constant, with a touch of unpredictability to it, but for the most part, Louis knows the ocean. He can predict her movements, knowing that even when she pulls away from the sandy shore, she’ll come rolling back, washing over it, before she pulls back once more. Sometimes the waves are soft, gently spilling onto land, while other times they’re harsh, slamming down and breaking, ocean water splashing into the air and demanding that her presence be known.

Louis thinks that he’s the ocean and Liam his shore, always there, always waiting and never changing, keeping in time with the Louis at every step of the way. Because looking at it, it’s Louis that edges his way into Liam’s life, into his mind and his heart, before he pulls away, sometimes gentler than the time before, sometimes quick and harsh, but he always comes back. No matter what, he always comes back.

Louis wonders how the ocean feels after her storms, when the beach is broken and not as pristine as it was before she hurt it, before she spun out of control with feelings unknown. He wonders if the ocean weeps for the sand, if the ocean rolls in softly, a gentle soothing apology for all the hurt she’s caused in the past. Louis wonders, but doesn’t ask, instead he watches, watches the water spread out against the sand in a soft caress before disappearing again.

There’s a quiet hum off in the distance, as Louis settles comfortably into the sand, that grows louder and louder, the noise quickly approaching Louis. He sighs when he realizes it’s one of the ATV’s and Louis rolls his eyes, because of course Liam doesn’t care that he’s stitched together and he could fall apart at any moment. And Louis doesn’t have to check to know that it’s Liam, he just knows. No one else on this island would be able to find him without a map, only Liam.

Liam sits down beside him quietly, tucking his feet under his thighs as he crosses his legs, staring ahead at the ocean with Louis.

Neither of them says anything for a while, the two of them sitting together in silence until Louis feels Liam move besides him, gently and hesitantly reaching out for Louis.

“What’s going on, Lou?” He asks, and Louis shrugs.

“I don’t know,” he says, because he doesn’t. He doesn’t know much of anything. All he does know is that it hurt to know something happened to Liam and that he was scared because he wasn’t sure what, and the only thing he could think about on the drive to the first aid center was losing Liam. But also how he told Liam that he didn’t mean anything, when it’s so painfully obvious that he does. Louis doesn’t know how or when it happened, just that it did, and that someone is obviously playing a trick on him to make him fall for Liam Payne.

“I am fine you know,” Liam says quietly. “And it really is better me than someone else.”

“No, it’s not,” Louis says, sharp and firm.

“It is,” Liam soothes, resting his hand on Louis’ knee finally. “I’m family to them, to those raptors. I know that you and everyone else might not see it or believe it, but it’s true. It would have been worse if it were someone else. Someone could have died today.”

“Yeah, you could have died.”

Liam sighs and moves his hand off Louis’ knee, bringing it to Louis’ face to stroke at his cheekbone, gently turning Louis’ gaze in his direction, making their eyes lock. “I thought you didn’t care,” he says, brown eyes deep and dark, shining in the sun.

“I thought so too,” mumbles Louis, swallowing thickly as he leans into Liam’s touch.

Liam nods, breathing out slowly, only the slightest wince accompanied with it. “So what does that mean?”

“I don’t know, I guess that means I love you or something,” Louis grumbles, shrugging at the maybe confession. He’s not sure if it’s true, all he knows is that it’s more true than him hating Liam, which is a start.

Liam smiles at him, sliding his hand up just a fraction to brush his fingers through Louis’ hair. “I can live with that,” he says.

“I can’t,” Louis tells him, just the slightest bit whining.

Liam laughs as Louis falls into him, burying his face in Liam’s shoulder, breathing him in. He smells like antiseptic and clean, sharp and harsh, the smell cutting into Louis’ nose and making it tingle, but there’s still faint traces of Liam under it all, thick and earthy, making Louis’ sigh contently. He turns his face to the side, tucking into the crook of Liam’s neck and pressing a kiss to his skin, right where his pulse point is, right at the reminder that Liam is alive, that Liam is okay and he’s here, wrapping an arm around Louis and kissing his hair.

“It’ll be all right,” Liam tells him, rubbing circles into Louis’ back. “Maybe loving me will be a one time thing, one really long time.”

Louis surprises himself with a laugh, nudging his nose into Liam’s neck. “Yeah, well. I’m pretty good at one time things.”

“Yeah, I know you are,” Liam whispers.

“And one time thing or not, I am never letting you out of my sight again, at least until those stitches come out, and then I’m going to hire people to watch you,” Louis decides, nodding. “I’m going to blow off all of my responsibilities to sit in the security room and watch your every move. I’m going to get a tracking device implanted into your ass so that I can keep tabs on where you are at all times of day. If a mosquito so much as lands on your arm, I’m going to know about it.”

Liam hums, patting Louis’ back once more. “That sounds nice,” he says and Louis laughs, grateful that he’s willing to pacify him. “Though, I’m not sure my ass is a good spot for a tracking device.”

“You’re right, not meaty enough,” Louis chuckles, body jerking when Liam tickles his ribs. “Stop, I’ll find a place to put it. No need to attack me.”

“I’m sure you will. And I’ll let you do whatever you want, as long as you promise not to do any of that again.”

“Any of what? You’re the one who was mauled, not me.”

“Any of that running away,” Liam mutters, brown eyes boring into Louis. He looks at him, wetting his lips as he nods, leaning in, sealing his promise with a kiss.

Louis kisses Liam and thinks of the ocean, thinks about how it always comes back for the shore, each wave taking pieces of land back with it, and like the ocean, Louis knows he’ll always come back.

><><

“No, Louis. Louis, listen to me. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but I really think we could benefit from this idea.”

“I am listening to you,” Louis laughs, because he is. But he has to pay attention to what’s happening around him, to all the people filing in and out of the Creation Lab in preparation for raptor transfer. “But I can’t talk to Simon about a simple idea, I need drawings, models, proposals, all sorts of things before I can present him with the idea.”

“Right, right. I know that,” Zayn says, hazel eyes sparkling as he talks about his idea for a new park attraction. “But think about it. Louis, your eyes are glazing over again. Listen to me.”

“I’m listening, I swear, but…I might listen a little better if you come into my office on Monday morning.”

“You love talking about work. You love talking about the park, but you won’t listen to my idea?”

“All right, all right, enough with the Bambi eyes in a pathetic attempt to guilt trip me,” Louis laughs, shaking his head. He watches as another raptor is tucked into another cage and carefully carried out of the room to be let out in the back of a transport van.

“So this is what I’m thinking, since you weren’t listening a minute ago. We set up an underwater attraction, kind of like what we have going on with the Lagoon with Mosasaurus, where park attendees seats are lowered so they can watch Tiny through the glass.”

“Tiny?” Louis asks, lifting an eyebrow at Zayn. “Since when has Mosasaurus been called Tiny?”

“Niall calls her that all the time,” Zayn replies, looking at Louis like he’s the one that’s not making any sense. It’s not a bad name…if Mosasaurus wasn’t five tons.

“All right, so your idea is kind of like what we have going on with Tiny. And I’m asking this under the best Simon Cowell impression that I can muster, what makes your idea different from what we already have?”

“You didn’t even let me finish,” Zayn deadpans, staring at Louis in annoyance.

“My bad, please continue.”

“I will, thank you,” Zayn mutters, causing Louis to snort. “So as I was saying, the Tiny attraction has guests lowered down in their seats, but what if…and this is where I think it’ll be really fucking awesome, but what if we can get the monorail to go underground? Like…a submarine monorail that passes through a body of a water, where they can see some of the marine dinosaurs, along with fish and stuff, an underwater tour that would allow them to see some of these dinosaurs in a safe way that they wouldn’t be otherwise.”

“A monorail submarine ride,” Louis mutters, nodding as he tries to picture it. It could be great, he can admit that, but they’d have to find some kind of alternative to sending the monorail underground. Instead they could find a spot that stops off right before the underground portion, allow passengers to step off the monorail and wait in line to board a submarine. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

Zayn grins, leaning over to jostle Louis. “See, that’s why I told you to listen to me, I knew you'd love it.”

“Listen to you about what?”

Louis glances up to see Harry setting a tray of snacks that he nabbed from the cafeteria. Louis snags a strawberry, biting into it as Harry steps around him and slides under Zayn’s arm, pressing himself against him.

“I finally told Louis about my idea.”

“Oh, you did,” Harry cheers, grinning. “I told you that he’d listen.”

“I know, but it’s just…”

“No buts, I told you that it was an amazing idea,” Harry mutters to him, face pressed against Zayn’s as he runs his fingers through Zayn’s hair. “You’re going to do so many great things for the park, you know.”

“Yeah, you think so?”

“Of course I do,” Harry mumbles, annunciating each word with a kiss to Zayn’s cheek and Louis fake gags as he takes another bite of his strawberry.

Louis wishes that the two of them hadn’t figured their shit out, because their constant PDA is too much. It’s annoying, and Louis is tired of them kissing and muttering sweet nothings to each other every chance they get. One of them is always in the other’s lap, and they’re constantly kissing each other, like now, almost as though Louis isn’t sitting right here next to them.

When Louis can hear the wet sounds of their tongues, and the satisfied hum of Harry, he drops the end of his strawberry and scrambles away from them before Harry tries to sneak his hand down Zayn’s pants again. Because really, enough is enough, and they’re not the only people that can make everyone uncomfortable with their PDA, Louis could dive into Liam’s lap until someone is begging him to stop. He could. And he’s going to, as soon as he finds him.

Liam is outside with Niall, shirt pulled up to expose the red lines along his chest. The stitches are out, leaving behind angry scars that trail from his chest to his hip in one part, curling neatly along his bicep in another. He’s stupidly proud of them, Liam is. Louis’ stomach still curls when he sees them, but Liam’s still here and everything is where it should be.

“That’s fucking sick,” Niall tells him, nodding excitedly as he touches one of them, thumb dragging along the skin.

Liam beams with pride, grinning as he pulls his shirt back down. Louis rolls his eyes because he’s an idiot.

“I can’t believe you were mauled by a group of raptors and you’re still here. It’s fucking incredible,” Niall sighs, and he talks about it all the time, how amazed he is that Liam was able to walk away from a group of raptors without any major organs spilling out of his sides. “You really have to let me help you train them. You really do.”

“I don’t think he does, actually,” Louis mutters, watching as Niall sighs. “It’s bad enough having him out there, we don’t need you out there And you need to stop flashing your stomach off to everyone at the park, you’re starting to scare some of the guests.”

“I’m sure that I am,” Louis mutters, wrapping an arm around Louis’ shoulders and pulling him closer. “We’re nearly ready to transport them. I’m going to have to ride with the raptors, you know that?”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that fact, thank you.”

“We can’t leave without Harry and Zayn, you know that they’re going to flip if they miss it, Zayn especially.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not really worried about what they want,” Louis mutters bitterly.

“Oh god,” Niall mumbles, rolling his eyes. “What do you think he’s done now?”

“It’s not what I think he’s done, it’s what he’s doing. He’s been in there challenging me again. He’s been doing it all week.”

“No, you just think he has,” Liam laughs, hand dragging from Louis’ shoulder and down his back, touch soft.

“No he has, he thinks he’s better than us and I’m sick of it. I’m tired of him treating me this way,” Louis says, pushing up on his toes so his face is close to Liam’s just a few inches away. “You have to kiss me now so that I can prove we’re better.”

Liam laughs, shaking his head as he kisses Louis. It’s soft and gentle, just a brush of his lips that causes Louis to groan in frustration because he wants there to be tongue, he wants it to be hot and dirty, wants his stomach to twist and drop. He wants everyone on the island to know that they’re superior because they are, even with these pathetic soft kisses.

“I’m not standing around for this,” Niall mutters, making Louis smile in the kiss. He can hear him walking away, shouting out for Harry and Zayn. “You too better knock it off, because you’re changing the air of this place. We’re at work, all of you nasties. We’re at work and I’m not going to let any one of you have sex tonight, not unless you let me join.”

Louis hums, pulling away from the kiss to ask, “what do you say to that?”

“I say that we’re not having sex with Niall,” Liam laughs, kissing the corner of Louis’ mouth before he pulls away, arm still wrapped around his waist.

“Boo, you’re boring.”

“Funny coming from you.”

“I’m not boring,” Louis defends, slapping Liam’s shoulder.

Liam shrugs. “Not anymore. Not since I helped remove that stick from your ass.”

“And replaced it with something better,” Louis jokes, grinning when Liam laughs.

“You really are a monster, you know that?”

“I’ll take your insults later, right now we have dinosaurs to move, and the longer they’re in that car, the crankier they’re going to be,” Louis says, patting Liam’s cheek before he pulls away entirely. “Come on let’s get you inside that van.”

Liam nods, taking Louis’ hand as he allows himself to be tugged along to the transport van. Louis steps back, allowing Liam enough time to put a bag of food around his waist, tossing a few bits inside as he pulls the door open, just enough so the he can roll inside without anyone getting out. “Kiss for luck?” He asks, grinning.

Louis rolls his eyes and leans down, pressing a kiss to Liam’s lips before he rolls inside, Louis slamming the door down after him. The loud noise catches the raptors attention, all of their heads snapping in his direction as they notice of Liam.

“Come here girl,” Louis calls when he sees that Reign is staring at him, tapping his fingers against the door. She moves towards him slowly, soft grumbles gurgling from her throat. “I’ll see you at the paddock?” Louis asks, curling his finger when Reign’s head nudges against it, scratching it as best as he can, listening to her chirp at him.

“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Liam says, smiling at him as one of the raptors, Peggy, dives across the back of the van, colliding with Liam’s side and causing him to fall over. He laughs as he goes down, brown eyes sparkling as he shoves at the raptor, pushing her off of him and into Firefly.

Louis shakes his head, sighing as he watches Liam wrestle two of them. “Watch out for him,” Louis instructs to Reign, pressing his face against the side of the van so he can look at her, green eyes blinking at Louis slowly, watching him. “Don’t let them tear him up, okay?” He pats her on the head with his finger, once and then twice, curling it just enough to scratch at her hide before she chirps at him again, nudging him with her hand before she turns around, barking at her siblings until they step away from Liam.

Liam’s still laughing as he sits up, opening his arms for Reign to dive into. She does so effortlessly, nudging his shoulder until he’s lying back, splayed out in the hay they’ve put out for them. Louis smiles at the sight, content to know that Liam’s safe.

“Don't forget what I said,” he says, catching the attention of Liam and the raptors.

Liam turns his head to the side, looking at Louis thoughtfully. “What’d you say?”

“I wasn’t talking to you, was talking to her.”

Liam grins, patting the raptor on her side. “Well, I’ll get her talking soon enough. By the time we get to the paddock, she’ll have told me all your secrets.”

“Not by a long shot, Payne. I’m the new raptor alpha.”

And before Liam has a chance to answer, the baby raptors begin howling in response, loud and long raspy noises, huffing out their agreement and newfound allegiance to Louis. He grins at Liam through the hole in the back, laughing, and wondering when this became his life, how that boy and his raptors wedged their way into his heart. He doesn’t know, but he doesn’t care, he’s happy to have them.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know your thoughts! You can find me on [tumblr](http://alnimawrites.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
